Highschool DxD: Rule of Two
by halokid40
Summary: Darth Bane and Darth Zannah began to fight each other on Ambria for the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith when everything suddenly went black. They awoke in the Underworld, one of many worlds among the mythological factions. The Sith Lords must survive at all costs if they are to continue the Sith's lineage, starting with finding a way back to Ambria.
1. Prologue

**Prologue and Recorded Files about Darths Bane and Zannah**

It was a clear and calm dusk in the Underworld. The sky was beautiful, streaks of red and orange colored the few high-altitude clouds that slowly darkened as the daylight faded. A fairly young woman noticed the soothing scenery of the atmosphere above as she opened her eyes from a deep sleep. Rather than bringing her a sense of peace, the sky brought her sudden confusion and panic. The woman blinked rapidly in disbelief before swiftly sitting up to check her surroundings. She didn't recognize anything around her: tall grass, open plains, distant trees, and unknown flora and fauna that scattered throughout the landscape. She then got up on her feet to gaze further out towards the horizon. This woman was Darth Zannah.

A few meters to her right side laid her master Darth Bane. Bane slowly opened his eyes and gave a few blinks to clear the fogginess of his vision. His eyes then darted all around in confusion and at the recall of the battle he was fighting.

He quickly rose to his feet and spotted Zannah. Without saying anything he ignited his lightsaber and got into a fighting stance.

"Wait!" Zannah yelled. She immediately sensed something was very wrong.

The vastness of the Force felt different, the planets and places of the galaxy that she recognized when reaching out with the Force were no longer there. The universe beyond Ambria felt empty, void of life. But where she stood was not the deserted world of Ambria.

Bane felt the same thing as her. He looked up across the dusk sky as though it might give him clarity to his questions. He then fixed his gaze back to Zannah. "What did you do? Where are we?"

"I didn't do anything," Zannah replied. "When our lightsabers clashed, everything went black."

She looked around and reached out with the Force a second time to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks with her. "This isn't Ambria. We're on another planet."

Bane knew his apprentice, and now Sith rival, was just as confused as him. He deactivated his lightsaber and put it back on his belt. "How can this be? Neither of us used the Force in such a manner to bring us to this planet."

Zannah felt a sense of dread building up deep within her. "Bane, I don't think we're even in the right galaxy."

"That's impossible," he snapped. "We're probably in the Unknown Regions somewhere, or possibly on the edges of the galaxy."

Darth Bane walked a few paces back and forth trying to think about their current situation. "Only long and deep meditation can tell us where we are in the galaxy, or worst case in the universe. For now we should find out what planet this is and any sort of civilizations that may reside here."

Zannah thought for a matter of moments about his plan. "You're right."

"We will work together to find a way back to Ambria," Bane declared, "but once it is found, we will continue our fight for the mantle of Sith Master."

Zannah stood more straight and looked directly into Bane's eyes. "I hope you'll be ready. I will claim my destiny and you will fall at my feet."

Satisfied with her words, Bane gave a sinister smirk and a low chuckle.

RECORDED FILES

**Darth Bane**

**Name: **Darth Bane/Dessel/"Bane"

**Gender: **Male

**Age: **46

**Classification: **Human/Dark Lord of the Sith

**Power Tier: **Planet (busting) level [the Huntress perceived a poisoned and dying _Path of Destruction _Bane (his weakest incarnation) as vastly more powerful than anything she's ever seen, despite having witnessed through psychometry the Devastation of Ambria-in which a Sith sorceress created a wave of Force energy that destroyed all living beings on the planet. In addition, Ambria itself was devastated by the energy that was unleashed upon its surface, warping the landscape and infusing it with the dark side of the Force.]

**Strength:** Unknown, at least superhuman [through use of Force augmentation, Bane could potentially channel his entire Force reserves into lifting and striking strength if needed.]

**Speed:** Relativistic+ with FTL reactions and combat speed [his martial attacks appeared as a series of blurs to Zannah (who can track and calculate the trajectory of lightning in slow motion), can outpace torrential rain for several minutes while practicing his defensive lightsaber form, can move faster than other Force users can see, and seemed to wield a dozen blades from Zannah's perspective.]

**Powers and Abilities:**

Main Lightsaber Form(s): Form III (Soresu), Form V (Djem So), Form VII (Juyo)

Telekinesis: Bane can use this through the Force to put his mind literally over matter, capable of blasting opponents, shielding himself or disarming people, deflecting or redirecting many forms of attack, its limits are only those of the creativity that Force User has. The degree of this power is such that Bane can disintegrate targets, demolish large camps and landscapes, and collapse colossal temples as side effects of his Force waves. Bane also moved the Dxun moon out of its orbit, and mused to be able to play with the orbits of planets and moons like a child playing with toys. Notable uses also include Force Barrier, Choke, Wound, Kill, etc.

Force Lightning: An offensive Force technique that uses Force energy to produce electricity with one or two hands that stream outwards from the fingertips, its speed is usually great enough to catch an opponent off-guard even when prepared, and can be used either in bursts, or simply torrent out in an a gush of agony on its victim; Bane's usage of Force/Sith Lightning is great and advance enough to reduce dozens of Force Users into charred husks. His lightning is also able to kill targets instantly and instantly disintegrate them to ash, kill Drexls instantly into charred corpses, and blacken and destroy Orbalisks (which are impervious to lightsaber strikes). His lightning also causes the surrounding air to remain charged with electricity for quite a while.

Cryokinesis: Darth Bane siphons the heat energy out of an opponent. It's potent enough where the power can leave the afflicted a frosted corpse.

Convection: Using the Force to alter his own body chemistry, Bane causes his own body to burn with an incredible heat that causes no lasting harm to himself and can be used to badly burn others.

Pyrokinesis: A Force power that allowed a Force-user to manipulate and generate fire by rubbing and heating up air molecules together. The uses of this ability range from manipulating the molecules of combustible objects to controlling large explosions and generating raging infernos.

Force Drain: This dark side technique is both offensive and defensive, as it draws the life energy out of targets to exhaust or kill them quickly. The life force is then added to the user's own, acting as a sinister form of Force healing. An advanced form of this power is **Death Field**, where Bane can create a spherical field of pure dark side energy that would instantly cause those caught within to wither away and die.

Mind Tricks/Telepathy: A spectrum of Force powers that revolve around mental attacks. They can be used to read minds and communicate thoughts, cause hallucinations and cast illusions, and outright manipulating the minds of others to trick, deceive, maim or kill them. Other forms of these powers include Force Fear/Horror, etc.

Force Sense/Precognition: This ability could be used to feel another being's feelings, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, and impending danger. It allowed a Force user to see the immediate future, helping the user to accurately predict an enemy's movements/attacks/intentions and to predict the outcome of dangerous situations. This power can also be used to gain vague impressions of events happening in other places or times.

Force Destruction: A dark side Force power used by Sith and Dark Jedi, allowing them to create a massive energy field and throw it in any direction. When used, a massive amount of energy was stored up within the user, then he or she could blast a large radius vaporizing anyone and anything that got too close to it. Even those who escaped direct contact with the blast would be launched asunder by the power's backlash.

Transfer Essence: A radical dark side power that Bane can use to transfer his living essence (soul) and consciousness into the body of another, or even into an inanimate object. Thanks to this technique, his spirit can survive the death of his body and can invade the body of another, though he must overpower and expel their own consciousness to accomplish this, and his original body will be destroyed in the process, reduced to ash. If Bane fails to take the body of his opponent, his spirit will be forever lost to Chaos.

Sith Sorcery: An arcane expression of Force ability described as the full destructive power of the dark side of the Force. Through the recitation of spells, execution of hand gestures, and/or the handling of various artifacts, darksiders were able to channel the raw power of the Force's malignant side to warp minds, alter the environment, and obliterate whatever obstacles stood in their way. Through ancient Sith archives and Darth Revan's holocron, Bane learned many devastating rituals and magic techniques that held awesome potential, with some being so terrible and dangerous that Bane doubted he would ever dare to use them.

Thought Bomb: The result of an ancient ritual that unleashed the full volatility of the dark side of the Force. When detonated, a thought bomb annihilated the entirety—corporeal and non-corporeal—of everyone caught within its blast radius and absorbed their fragmented souls into a swirling vortex of perpetual torment that resolved into an orb of silver iridescence. The detonation immediately destroys a continent, turns a planet into a desert wasteland overnight, creates planet-wide nuclear winter and erratic weather patterns, and kills virtually every person on a planet. The Sith Lords of the Brotherhood of Darkness created a Thought Bomb on Ruusan, at the order of Bane, to eliminate the Jedi's Army of Light. Seeing that Bane attained an astronomical and exponential increase in dark side power and knowledge over the decades, he should be easily capable of creating a Thought Bomb all by himself.

Force Storm (weather): A Force power that presumably combined Force Whirlwind and Force Lightning to create something akin to a tropical storm. Also known as "Summon Storm", this power telekinetically manipulated the atmospheric conditions to whip the weather around the user into a frenzy. The top Sith Lords of the Brotherhood of Darkness gathered together, with Darth Bane as the main initiate and power source, to create a planet-wide Force Storm that ravaged the entire surface of Ruusan in a firestorm, obliterating the landscape for countless miles. Seeing that Bane's power and knowledge increased tremendously over the years since _Path of Destruction_, he should easily be capable of generating a planetary Force Storm all by himself.

Tutaminis: Through the Force, Bane can draw potentially harmful energy into his body and diffuse it or channel it away completely.

Force Blind: A burst of Force energy that can overwhelm an enemy's optic nerves and render them temporarily blind.

Force Sight: A Force ability that enhances the bearer's visual and spatial perception even in the dark or behind walls. This power is very useful against attacks that disrupts or impairs vision, such as flash grenades.

Force Scream: An involuntary Force exertion manifested by those whose alignment was with the dark side of the Force. It was a scream of strong frustration, rage, or grief emitted through the Force. This power caused devastation to any that were unfortunate enough to be in proximity. Force Scream had been called "a wave of hatred, amplified and fueled by the dark side, that is capable of smashing through mental and physical defenses with ease."

Force Rage: This Force power allowed a Force user to tap into his or her innermost fears, pain and hate, and convert them into an intense rage. The user could then channel the anger to increase his or her own speed, strength, and ferocity. However, the body could not handle such rage for long periods of time, so the user became greatly weakened for some time after the rage subsided.

Force Healing: A power that used the Force to accelerate the natural healing process rapidly, and could be used to heal the most fatal of wounds and injuries. The dark side variant of Force healing is twisted and malignant, since Bane can feed on the pain and anguish of others to sustain or invigorate himself for hours.

Animal Bond: The Force ability to control an animal. Once calmed, the animal could be used by the Force user in various ways, including as a mount or guard beast.

Detoxify Poison: A Force power that allowed a Force-user to detoxify poisons or eject them from their body in a much shorter amount of time than would normally be possible. It could also be used to cleanse their body of alcohol, allowing the individual to remain sober while consuming vast amounts of the drink.

Dun Möch: A form of combat that used distraction and doubt, usually through taunting, in conjunction with lightsaber combat. Dun Möch commonly involved spoken taunts, jeers, and jests that exposed the opponent's inner weaknesses or doubts, which had the end result of eroding the opponent's will.

Hatred: A method of focusing a Force user's inner fire so that it can be stoked with outrage, disgust, and fear until it burns with white-hot intensity. This full embrace of the dark side lets their hate radiate from their body in palpable waves that can send another's mind into catatonia.

Hibernation Trance: An ability that allowed Force-users to go into a very deep hibernation state. It slowed the user's metabolism and breathing to a standstill, causing the individual to only use one tenth of the air of a normal individual. To all outward appearances, the individual appears to be dead; only thorough testing would determine that they were alive.

Crucitorn: A technique that makes it possible to detach one's mind from coarse sensations. It can allow the practitioner to endure any torture and withstand any injury. This power can also be used to increase the pain of a selected target by focusing on their wounds, agitating them through the Force and causing more pain to course through their body, making it much more painful than how it would feel being left alone.

Inertia: A Force power that allowed a Force-user to shift his body's inertia, allowing him to perform otherwise impossible stunts, such as running on walls and ceilings.

Memory Walk: This power consisted of mentally reaching into a victim's mind, forcing them to relive all the worst memories of their life, both painful ones and ones that were merely embarrassing, over and over and over again to the point where it almost seemed to cause physical pain.

Mind Shard: A Force power that allowed a Force-user to mentally splinter an opponent's mind, racking the victim with pain.

_**Possible Abilities:**_

Mechu-deru/Mechu-deru vitae: Although Darth Bane was never shown to use or know this ability, he did acquire the Holocron of Belia Darzu which contains vast amounts of knowledge and teachings about the ability. Unless Bane overlooked or disregarded that knowledge, he could possibly use the Force to gain an intuitive understanding of mechanical systems and exert his influence over inanimate objects and robotic constructs, and mix Mechu-deru with sorcery to create Sithspawn called technobeasts.

**Darth Zannah**

**Name:** Darth Zannah/Rain/"Zannah"

**Gender:** Female

**Age:** 30

**Classification:** Human/Dark Lord of the Sith

**Power Tier:** Planet (busting) level [holds the potential to surpass her master Darth Bane].

**Strength:** Unknown, at least superhuman [through use of Force augmentation, Zannah could potentially channel her entire Force reserves into lifting and striking strength if needed].

**Speed:** Relativistic+ with FTL reactions and combat speed [saw the world as blurred streaks of color when using Force speed as an untrained child, able to keep up with her master blow-for-blow in lightsaber combat, able to track and calculate the trajectory of lightning in slow motion and dodge it with ease.]

**Powers and Abilities:**

Main Lightsaber Form(s): Form III (Soresu)

Telekinesis

Mind Tricks/Telepathy

Force Sense/Precognition

Force Destruction

Sith Sorcery: As a powerful Sith sorceress, Zannah's greatest talents lie in this field of Force powers. She derived most of her teachings from Freedon Nadd's holocron as well as everything Bane had to teach her about sorcery. Her sorcery skills are such that she can cast rituals and spells that Darth Bane could not grasp himself.

Dark Side Tendrils: A technique that conjures pure Force energy in the form of tendrils. These tendrils rose in the form of black mist from the ground and took the form of serpentine tentacles which swarmed their victim and attacked with the power of the pure dark side. The technique requires a fair level of concentration from the user, making it somewhat difficult to manifest without the required skill. When conjured by Zannah, the Dark Side Tendrils were able to instantly annihilate any kind of matter they come in contact with, as well as subject the individual who got injured to the full scope of the void of the dark side.

Summon Fear (Spells of Madness): Similar to Force Fear, horror, insanity, or Torture by Chagrin, summon fear was a dark side Force power conjured through Sith magic that caused the victim to experience their worst fears to the point of hysteria. It was a very powerful ability, and the duration and intensity varied depending on the caster. Short durations could result in the victim waking up with only a small recollection of what happened. Longer applications could cause one's physical form to seize itself into unconsciousness, while the mind was virtually destroyed. The body remained effectively comatose, while whatever lasting consciousness was tortured for all eternity. Spells even longer endured could very well result in the victim's death.

False Light Side Aura: A dark side Force power conjured through Sith magic that covered a darksider's dark side aura with one of light. This power can fool even Jedi Masters and its effects can linger for up to several years.

Spell of Concealment: Similar to the Force cloak ability, conjuring a spell of concealment through Sith magic allowed the caster to hide or cloak the presence of one or multiple individuals.

_*****Likely Abilities:**_

Although Zannah never directly displayed any of the following powers in her showings, it is highly likely that she knew how to use all of Darth Bane's powers due to the function of the Rule of Two (he taught her everything he knew). As such, Darth Zannah would likely be well-versed in the techniques of Force powers like Force lightning, Force drain, tutaminis, Force scream, Force rage, etc. This would also include rare and odd Force powers like the thought bomb and essence transfer.


	2. A New World

**A New World**

Darth Bane and Darth Zannah walked together in a straight line through the tall grass and plains that flanked them from every angle. The sky above them was now heavy overcast, and even though it was the apex of night, their Force senses allowed them to see in the darkness and feel the presence of everything around them. They had already killed and scared off some unknown predators that lurked in the shadows along their trek, further reinforcing their conclusion of being on a nameless planet. Every bit of the way they could not help but feel somewhat uneasy and suspicious of one another; they are Sith rivals now after all. Ever since Zannah made the life-changing choice to hunt down and face her Master initially on the planet Doan, Bane knew she is a threat to his existence, and Zannah sees Bane as her ultimate obstacle blocking her grand destiny.

Despite this unavoidable feeling, they channeled all of their focus into their goal of getting back to Ambria. They had felt civilization hundreds of kilometers in the distance, the closest source of sentient life they could sense on this planet. Maybe they would move on to some of the other cities that littered the planet, but for now they should start off at one place at a time.

Bane and Zannah came across the beginning of a vast hill range that blended with the flat plains and small forests behind them. A few hundred meters ahead was a cave-like opening in the side of a small cliff that pointed towards the center of the upcoming valley. The Sith Lords had been walking for hours now, and they didn't plan on walking the whole night. The hike towards the opening was crowded with many shrubs, bushes, and plants that neither Sith had ever seen before. Some of the bushes contained many dark red berries of some sort on their branches, looking like blood spots from a distance.

Zannah approached the nearest bush and brushed her fingertips against the berries. "Should we see if these are edible? I don't know when we will be getting our next full meal."

Bane studied the fruit for a few moments. "Might as well try. If they end up being poisonous or inedible, we can simply flush out the toxins with the Force."

Bane had purged incredibly potent and deadly poisons from his body many times before, these berries should be absolute child's play compared to the toxic agents. Bane and Zannah grabbed a few berries each and put them in their mouths.

"They are sweet," Zannah noted. "There's no odd or foul tastes that would suggest for them not to be eaten."

Bane sensed his body absorbing the fruit's nutrients with no toxins to be found. "From what I can feel, this fruit doesn't seem to be harmful."

The Sith Lords proceeded to stuff palm-fulls of berries into the pockets of their clothes. They continued to do so until they couldn't fit anymore, their pockets puffed up so much that they were on the verge of bursting. This may be the first and only time they come across edible fruit like this.

"This should be enough food for now," Bane said to his fellow Darth.

Zannah looked up at the cave entrance that was now much closer than when they began their food scavenging. She studied its contours, then the cliff entirely. "That cave might be our home for the next while."

"We have to see what's inside first," Bane reminded her.

The Dark Lords walked up the uneven slope towards the cave opening. Upon arriving just a few meters away, they noticed more details about the site. The opening was twice Bane's height and was composed of some sort of limestone that was light gray with streaks of light brown. Zannah noticed something hanging along the left wall a few meters inside; she decided to creep inside and retrieve it. Bane watched Zannah come out with an old and decaying torch, her eyes locking with his in curiosity.

"Keep your guard up," Bane suggested.

Zannah nodded in acknowledgement as she lead the way inside the cave. Both Sith Lords couldn't sense anyone or anything's presence anywhere near them, but with the sheer bewilderment and ridiculousness of their situation on this unknown world, they must be ready for anything. They walked slowly deeper through the narrow passage until they arrived inside a cavern that was forty meters long and wide. Although it was total darkness, Bane and Zannah can still see their surroundings via the Force.

A ball of fire instantly ignited in Bane's left hand, then he proceeded to launch a small fireball at the makeshift chandelier that hung at the top of the cavern. It was made of metal and stone with twigs and leaves as the fuel source. The chandelier lit up most of the cavern, revealing a central fire pit and rotting crates along the cavern walls. Some books, journals, and papers laid on a few of the crates and on the cave floor.

"This place looks to be abandoned," Zannah concluded. "These crates seem like they haven't been touched in years."

Bane gave another look around while simultaneously feeling for the presence of any strangers. "Check for anything useful."

Bane and Zannah searched the room. The first thing Bane came across was an old journal and random pages spilled out on top of a vacant crate. He opened the book and observed the writing. The hand-written words were in Galactic Basic and in the form of diary entries, filling each page of the book in an abundant amount of information. Bane quickly browsed through each page, finding words that constantly reoccurred over and over again. "Devils", "Satans", and "Underworld", they stood out the most to Bane. The Sith Master closed the book and grabbed the lone pages from the container.

Zannah turned around to find her Master sitting in front of the unlit fireplace in the middle of the room. "Anything interesting in that book?"

"I've only briefly glanced through each page," Bane responded while using the Force to light the fire pit wood ablaze. "It's written in Galactic Basic."

Zannah walked back and forth to gather some journals and pages of her own, then settled down near the heat of the fire pit. They both read their texts for a while, trying to find as much information as possible that relates to their current situation. While reading, they also feasted on their freshly picked berries.

"This journal often refers back to a man named Ajuka Beelzebub," Bane said aloud. "He is something called a Satan, one of the leaders of the 'Underworld'."

"I've seen those words in my texts as well," Zannah replied.

"The author, Gerald Sigfield, received instructions from Beelzebub to conduct research and observation experiments on unclassified wildlife in the Underworld," Bane summarized as he ate some more fruit. "The rest of the information is useless."

As Bane tossed the journal off to the side, Zannah pulled out a thick sheet of paper stuffed inside one of the manuals. "This looks like a map of the Underworld."

Bane rose to his feet and walked to the opposite side of the fire where he then sat down next to Zannah. "What does the map show?"

"It looks like we are here at Gerald Outpost," Zannah pointed at the landmark icon circled in red. "There are a few towns roughly a half day's walk away, with the closest major city being Lilith. From the markings on this map, it looks like that city is the capital of a nation."

"Lilith is a week's hike away," Bane noted.

Zannah nodded then folded the map back up. Bane returned back to his original spot on the other side of the campfire and opened another journal. While he read the lines of the pages, he thought about their next course of action for the morning.

"We should explore one of the towns closest to this outpost. We may find additional information there, more than what these texts can give us. We may be able to find some contacts as well," Bane advised to Zannah.

"Contacts?" Zannah questioned while scanning through another manuscript. "From what these pages tell me, these 'devils' aren't normal people. They apparently use magic systems as a means of combat and can do some rather unusual things with their bodies. We don't know what they could be like when we encounter them; this isn't your spy network we are dealing with here."

Bane's brow furrowed as he thought of different options. "We could interrogate them instead."

"That could work," Zannah chuckled at Bane's ruthless yet effective option of choice.

The two Sith Lords flipped through more pages for a little while longer before going to sleep on the cold, hard cavern floor.

_The Next Day_

Bane and Zannah woke up after an uncomfortable night's rest. Both of them glanced around the pitch-black cavern while they waited for their drowsiness to subside. The firepit had burned out hours ago, but there was a faint glimmer of light that came from the pathway that lead back out to the wilderness. Figuring that it must be morning, Bane and Zannah got up and collected the useful journals and left over fruit, putting them in a few old sacks and backpacks that were huddled in one of the corners of the room. The Sith Lords, now ready to proceed with their journey, walked through the twists and turns of the pathway leading to the cave entrance. They then found themselves outside once again amongst the mountains and forests of the Underworld.

Once the cave entrance became a distant dot in the distance behind them, Zannah pulled out the map that she and her Master examined last night. "There are three villages that should be well off in this direction. I'm assuming we are going to the closest one?"

Bane glanced at the map and nodded. "Dundee will be our first stop. Then we will go to Nantgarth and Grimsby if needed."

The Dark Lords walked across the Underworld landscape for over ten hours until they reached the outskirts of the town of Dundee. Established in the middle of the local mountain chain, Dundee was a small community of 420 residents with half of its infrastructure built up the base of a mountainside. Most of the people there work in forestry, woodcraft, and mining. The buildings and houses were fairly small and of simple design, yet their materials and aesthetics show that there's a hint of wealth in this small town in the middle of nowhere.

Bane and Zannah hid behind the nearest pack of trees inside the town border to scout the town from afar. They could see out in the distance scattered packs of devils roaming the pathways and sidewalks, and others entering and exiting houses. The Dark Lords jogged along the treeline, displacing themselves closer to the center of the village. Still hiding in the flora, they examined the buildings and residents a second time. They noticed many of the devils had pointed ears, and some had their bat-like wings protruding from their backs.

"All I see are what seem to be civilians," said Zannah.

Bane squinted in eyes to examine a sign in the distance that held a name on it. Suspended on the small gates in front of one of the largest houses in the town, the sign said the name 'Sigfield' in all capital letters.

"That house with the gated fencing has a sign with the same last name as the main author of the journals we have," Bane noted. "We should search that building first."

Zannah quickly studied the house that Bane pointed out, then nodded to him in agreement. They both gathered the Force and sprang forward towards the intended house in the distance, crossing the town as imperceivable phantoms. No one in the streets noticed, or would ever notice, the Sith Lords running by. Now past the gates of the target house, they approached the front door and opened it with perfect quietness. They could sense that someone was on the second floor at the back end of the house, but Bane and Zannah gave no worry to that fact.

After observing much of the first floor of the house, Bane and Zannah sat down on one of the large sofas in the main living room just as they heard the homeowner walking towards the front end of the house. The homeowner came down the stairs to find two mysterious lords sitting on his largest couch. Judging by the man's partially gray hair, mild wrinkles and old style glasses, he seemed to be in his mid-fifties. The homeowner remained still for a while, his eyes studied the very attractive but deadly looking woman, then they fixed on the brute of a man who looked like death itself.

"Can I help you?" the homeowner asked his uninvited guests.

"Yes," Bane said in an emotionless tone, "you can start by telling us your name."

"The name's Gerald Sigfield," he replied, then saw Bane raise an eyebrow. "It seems like you've heard of my name before."

Zannah pulled out one of the journals from her bag. "We have some of your journals."

"So you've been to my abandoned outpost? I would never have imagined the books I intentionally left behind would be returned to me by passersby," Gerald said with a chuckle.

Bane tilted his head slightly and said, "Is that so? Then my apprentice and I may be the perfect guests for a fascinating discussion."

Darths Bane and Zannah explained every bit of detail about their current situation and what they know of it. The Sith Lords figured to discuss it with a researcher and historian to see if they can find any clues as to what happened for them to be in the Underworld.

"Let me get this straight," Gerald paused for a moment, "you two are saying that you are humans from another galaxy?"

"We haven't done deep meditation to fully scan beyond this world, but from what we can sense we may be in the wrong galaxy entirely," Zannah clarified.

Gerald remained stumped for a moment. "This sounds too ridiculous to be true. Are you sure you aren't from Earth?"

Bane got up and took a few steps toward Gerald, then calmly rose his hand to the level of Gerald's head. Bane used the Force not to read the memories of his target like he did in the past, but to relay his own memories instead. Gerald's mind was filled with brief and rapid flashbacks of Bane's experiences, from the wars on Ruusan to his final encounter with Zannah on Ambria. Gerald could not hope to comprehend the jumbled bits of Bane's memory, but they were enough to make him realize Bane was from another place in the universe.

Gerald quickly leaned back and breathed heavily once Bane cut the Force link to his mind. The devil's heart rate was so high that he could not speak properly right away.

"You...you are from another galaxy," Gerald said softly.

As soon as Gerald mustered out those few words, a commotion began outside with several people speaking loudly enough for the sound to be heard from inside Gerald's home. Both curious and worried, the devil walked towards his front door to see what is going on outside. He opened it to find a small group of high-class devils in the central plaza who were surrounded by devil guards and some peerage members. The ones causing most of the noise were a number of Dundee residents who were clearly upset about the newcomers' presence.

Gerald walked down his front porch and past his gate. "Why are you here Zephyrdor?"

The high-class devil gave a smirk. "Ah, here's the hermit we've all been looking for! I think you know exactly why we are here."

Gerald shrugged in response.

"You ignorant old man, didn't you know that there's a bounty on your head?" Zephyrdor exclaimed.

Gerald's mouth nearly dropped to the ground. "This must be a joke."

One of the four other high-class devils accompanying Zephyrdor, a male from the Amon clan, replied, "It's no joke. Some higher-ups from the Hindu faction put a price on your head, we don't know why nor do we really care. They've offered us quite the reward for you either dead or alive."

Gerald became flustered. "How did you even get in contact with the Hindus in the first place?"

"That doesn't matter," Zephyrdor said loudly, "what does matter is that you are done for. You may be an ultimate-class devil, but your lackluster fighting skills and demonic power are no match for our numbers!"

It's true, Gerald thought. He can handle two high-class devils, maybe three, but five is too much for him. On top of that are their guards and peerage members as well, making it a total of 25 devils against him. Gerald had gained his rank from relentless scientific and political pursuits for the Satans and the Underworld. He developed his demonic powers to the bare minimum requirements for an ultimate-class standing, and nothing beyond that. He was never a fighter.

"There's many ways to gain status in the Underworld and to make a difference for it, rather than always bashing your heads in during rating games!" Gerald shouted.

Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas grew impatient. "Shut it! It doesn't matter what you say, you're ours now!"

Just as all the devils were preparing to attack, a blinding storm of violet lightning struck the dozen devils in the left group. The raging inferno of lightning came from Darth Bane, who had his left hand extended to casually unleash the dark side energy at his opponents. The dozens of forks of lightning instantly turned the two high-class devils and the ten guards and peerage members to ash. Bane then shoved his right hand forward to create a Force wave that disintegrated the other dozen devils on the right side.

Gerald, Zephyrdor, and the civilians in the distance couldn't process the two attacks right away since they both happened faster than they can ever hope to react. For the next few moments when no other attacks happened, the town residents began to flee in screams of horror and fear. Gerald gazed upon the smoldering ash piles and scattered stains of flesh in both relief and paralyzing bewilderness. Zephyrdor, on the other hand, was struck with pure dread at the monster of a man taking slow steps towards him.

Bane used the Force to then choke Zephyrdor and lift his body several feet in the air. The devil desperately gasped for air as the agonizing pressure slowly intensified at his throat.

"Tell me more about this bounty," Bane said menacingly to his suffering opponent.


	3. Social Exposure

**Social Exposure**

_Indra's Castle, Hindu realm_

Indra, king of the Devas, paced back and forth waiting for one of his high priests to come by at his personal office. It was dull and raining outside in his realm, making him feel more worried than he needs to be. For the past few months, he had been receiving perceptions of the future that trumped everything else that he had envisioned in the past. His previous most troublesome prediction was the unleashing of Trihexa (666) and the disappearance of several gods, but these new recurring visions that started three months ago were far worse than what Trihexa's would ever be. A few times a week, Indra could see a man and a woman in his mind, both of whom seem to embody an unnatural power of the universe, the element of death itself. Sometimes he saw only the man and other times only the woman, but they both irradiated the same waves of darkness and hatred, and each holding their own red blade in hand.

The other future predictors, Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu, all had their own unique visions of the same two people. The three Hindu gods felt a vague sense of death and defeat at the hands of the mysterious figures, but Indra felt only darkness and anger from the dark sources. The king of the Devas had never felt so worried over the possible actions of certain beings; the visions of Trihexa were simply those of possible events and were separated from the current reality, but the ones of the man and woman actually had an effect on him in the present moment. They felt real, the power emanating from the figures felt palpable in nature as though it affected the very fabric of the universe itself.

Finally, someone came in through the door to Indra's office. The king of the Devas quickly turned around to meet face to face with his high priest on the news he was waiting to hear. But the person standing at the door was someone else.

"I've already spoken to the priest about the hired devil group and their orders," Shiva said with assurance.

Indra was taken aback by his presence and words. "You knew about Zephyrdor?"

Shiva took a few steps forward and replied, "I figured all along that you would do something like this, trying to prevent the future from happening or trying to change its outcome. But you got the priest to tell the devils to go after the renowned Sigfield. Why?"

Indra tried to put his thoughts into words. "Once or twice in my visions of the dark beings I saw the face of Sigfield. I couldn't decipher what it meant or why I saw him, but I thought he had something to do with the dark ones. I wanted him alive for questioning, but I allowed for his death if capturing him proved to be too troublesome."

"I see," Shiva replied, "but even if they did capture or kill Sigfield, it wouldn't have mattered."

Indra could tell that something was up. "Did something happen to them?"

Shiva nodded and said, "They're dead, Indra. And Zephyrdor is nowhere to be found, he's likely being held in custody. The priest told me that there were reports on a man who ashed and disintegrated them immediately."

"What man?" Indra asked suspiciously.

"The one from our visions," Shiva responded. "Witnesses said he had pale skin, fiery eyes, was bald and very muscular."

Indra shook his head in denial. "It could have been someone else who did this."

Shiva sighed. "I suppose it's been a while since you have been to the Underworld to read the minds of the people there. There are two such minds that I cannot hope to read, my efforts being deflected off each time. The man and the woman; they're here, Indra."

Indra drifted his eyes off around the room trying to reflect on what has been said so far. "Where are they now?"

"Likely somewhere in the Underworld," Shiva replied, "the town where the devils were killed isn't too far from Lilith."

"Let the devils handle them first. I'm not interested in going there then being questioned why a god is roaming the devil capital." Indra stated.

"My thoughts exactly," Shiva said, "we cannot just show up wherever and whenever we want without commotion. Let's discuss the matter with Brahma and Vishnu first, then we will go warn the Satans."

Indra grumbled, "Do we really have to warn them? Surely the Three Factions have enough forces to deal with them."

Shiva replied, "Don't be so sure about that. For all we know they could possibly be the most powerful beings in the world right now."

Indra remained quiet. The possibility of two random beings spontaneously claiming the titles of strongest beings in the world did not settle well with him.

Shiva prepared to walk out the door. "I will return here shortly with Brahma and Vishnu. Just know that we may have to step in and face them ourselves if needed."

Shiva turned around and left the large office. Indra stood still, thinking about the God of Destruction's words and the situation with the dark ones. After a minute of inner thought, Indra returned to his luxurious office chair with the most grim look that his face ever showed.

_Train to Lilith, Underworld_

Darth Bane gazed out the window of the railway train that headed towards Lilith. Instead of seeing the landscape at eye level, Bane's eyes met face-to-face with clouds and the Underworld landscape a fair ways below. This 'railway' train he was on flew through the sky by means of magic. He found it to be pretty similar in overall function with the hovercraft of his own galaxy, so he and Zannah were not overly shocked to find the train taking to the skies. Bane then took his attention away from the outdoor scenery and focused on his immediate surroundings inside the train. The Sith Master sat next to his apprentice in a large VIP room at the front of the train. Sitting across from the Sith were Gerald and Zephyrdor.

"Thanks to my ultimate-class standing, we were fortunate enough to reserve this private lounge for the four of us," Gerald said while looking around the abundantly large cabin that seemed to fit better inside a mansion than on a train.

"Yes, finally back to the comfort of luxury," Zephyrdor was happy about that fact, except for the handcuffs on his wrists and the shock collar around his neck.

Gerald pressed the remote button that made the collar give Zephyrdor a strong shock. "Did I say you can speak?"

The high-class devil went rigid from the jolt then relaxed once it subsided.

Darth Zannah said to Bane, "At least now we don't have to walk for a week to get to the devil capital."

Her words made Bane consider other options. "Does this train only travel to Lilith?"

"This train has many destinations," Gerald replied, "the next stop is the city of Ardchester, then after that is the Gremory Territory."

"The last stop you mentioned sounds familiar," Zannah said while digging for the journal in which she read about 'Gremory'.

"It's the home territory of the current Lucifer. Sirzechs and the other Satans are hosting the Young Devils Gathering there in the city grand hall," Gerald explained.

"We need to speak with the Satans," said Bane, "but first we must know what is in Lilith."

Gerald took a sip of his wine and replied, "I own a library in downtown Lilith. It is the largest one in the entire Underworld and, from the information I have, the largest one out of every mythological faction in terms of structural size. Though I'm fairly certain there are a few in other factions that hold more books than mine."

Bane grew intrigued. "What sort of information can we find in your library?"

"Pretty much anything," Gerald responded while taking another drink of alcohol. "I have books and manuscripts that cover sociology, history, magic, politics, biology, warfare, and much more on all factions that exist in our world today. Everything you can find there except for the most secret information that the factions keep hidden from one another."

Bane and Zannah exchanged looks with each other at the sound of what could very well be a valuable resource.

"Once we get to Lilith, I can search the library for any useful information that can help us. I suppose you will go talk with the Satans, Bane?" Zannah said.

Bane responded in acknowledgement with a slight nod.

"Give me a moment while I contact the library manager," Gerald said as he initiated the holo-net sequence on the table between the four VIP passengers.

A magic rectangle illuminated on the tabletop, then a small female silhouette rose up to speak with Gerald.

"Mr. Sigfield, how pleasant it is to see you!" the manager said enthusiastically. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I am granting an...associate of mine full access to all archives within the library. She needs to do extensive research on a wide variety of topics for very important business," Gerald explained.

The manager pulled out a datapad from her pocket and pressed a few buttons. "Alright. What is her name?"

"Darth Zannah," Gerald replied.

"Darth...Zannah…" the manager punched in the name, then looked up at Gerald with a confused look.

"She's from another faction," Gerald lied awkwardly.

"Okay. Do you have her photo ID?" the woman asked.

Gerald looked over at Zannah. "She's sitting right behind you."

The silhouette on the table turned around to lay eyes upon Zannah. "Oh, hello there Miss Zannah."

"Hello," Zannah replied.

The manager then took a moment to examine Darth Zannah's attire. Feeling perplexed, she then turned again to fully observe Zephyrdor and his restraints, and finally Darth Bane. A wave of worry came across the manager's face.

"Is there something going on, Mr. Sigfield?" she asked anxiously.

"We are just doing business," Gerald replied, "everything will be explained once we get a few things done."

The manager took a deep breath. "If you say so, Mr. Sigfield. I have the guest pass ready to go. All Miss Zannah has to do is meet me at the front counter when she arrives."

"Thank you," Gerald responded with a smile.

The magic rectangle disappeared once the figure of the manager descended into the table.

"I'm impressed with the manner in which you devils use your magic system. I will definitely study it at the library," Zannah noted to Gerald.

A matter of several minutes passed before the train finally pulled up to the train station located on a huge elevated platform in the commercial district at the west end of downtown Lilith.

"See that brown and white building with the stone columns running along the sides? That's my library, just follow the street signs and you will find it." Gerald pointed out to Zannah.

"Got it," Zannah replied, then got up and left the VIP room.

A few moments later, Bane saw Zannah from his window walking to the opposite side of the platform. A number of devil pedestrians gave a few looks at the hooded and stunningly beautiful blond in black robes walking by with elegant strides. As soon as Bane saw Zannah walking down the far staircase, the train departed and slowly lifted back up into the skies. Bane continued to observe the scenery of streets and skyscrapers that made up the infrastructure of the devil capital.

"It's going to be another four hours before we get to the Gremory Territory," Gerald mentioned to the Sith Master.

Bane nodded then dozed off into his own thoughts. He reflected on Zephyrdor's confession about the Hindu high-priest hiring the young devil and his peers back inside of Gerald's home. The Hindu priest had told them to capture Sigfield for interrogation, or to eliminate him if Sigfield proved too difficult to subdue. Gerald had asked if Zephyrdor knew anything else beyond that, in which the young devil responded no. Bane had read Zephyrdor's thoughts and feelings and concluded that the devil was telling the truth. Before going to the train station serving Dundee and the other two closest towns, Gerald detained Zephyrdor with restrains that he kept in his vault in case of emergency, and had state guards to escort the four of them to the station. Bane now wanted to know more on the Hindu faction and its members other than the high-priest council, but for now he must focus on other matters.

"Is that a closet in the corner over there?" Bane asked the ultimate-class devil.

"Yes," Gerald responded, "take whatever clothes you need."

Bane decided it was time to get out of the dirty and dull prisoner clothes which was put on his body when he was captured by the Huntress, now Darth Cognus, and her mercenaries. Bane walked over to the closet and opened the door, finding the inside to be much larger than expected. Closing the door behind him and turning on the light, Bane found many styles of clothing ranging from simple and modest to stylish and complex and even ridiculous-looking. There were even some basic body armor plates along the far wall. Bane found the section of clothing that would seem likely to compliment his very tall and muscular frame, then skimmed through the moderate selection to see if anything interests him. Just a few moments into his search, he found an outfit that immediately caught his eye. He then changed into the outfit and put on some armor plates.

Bane now donned an outfit that was part aristocrat and part warrior. He wore dark gray pants and long-sleeve shirt that were simple and practical in design yet were made of expensive material. He also wore a chestplate, forearm and shoulder plates, knee guards, and armored boots that were all black in color. To top it off he put on a black cape secured around his shoulders and collar bone. Darth Bane had also made sure to clip his lightsaber to his new belt and transfer his personal holocron from his old clothes to his new ones. Bane then checked the contents of the closet once more to see if anything else interests him. Finding a hooded black cloak in the accessories cabinet, he put it on around his outfit and rose up the hood.

Gerald watched as the newly dressed Sith Lord emerged from the closet looking a lot like a grim reaper from the Realm of the Dead. Just as Bane returned to his seat, one of the state guards that escorted them to the Dundee station walked into the VIP room. Gerald could see for a moment the rest of the guard compliment standing at their stations outside the entrance before the door closed shut again.

"Lord Sigfield, Lady Leviathan will be contacting you imminently. She wishes to speak with you and your acquaintances," the guard said.

Despite not being the leader or heir of any of the devil clans, the devil military and even the aristocracy refer to Gerald as 'Lord' due to his great achievements and influence in the Underworld.

"Thank you, I will be waiting for her call," Gerald replied to the guard.

A minute after the state guard exited the room, the table lit up with a magic rectangle once more and presented another silhouette. Serafall Leviathan, the head of foreign affairs, looked up at Gerald.

"Lord Sigfield! How good it is to see you! Is everything going okay?" the cheerful Satan asked.

"Hello, Lady Leviathan," Gerald replied, "things have been kind of hectic over the past few hours. My head is filled with so many questions."

"I know, my dear. The other Satans and I have been talking about what the guards said about your situation," Serafall said respectfully. "Had it been only our members involved in this incident, Sirzechs would have contacted you. But seeing that the Hindus were also involved in this attack, the bulk of the matter fell into my hands."

Gerald nodded in response.

Serafall then looked over at Zephyrdor. "As for you, Zephyrdor, you have been a very bad boy! How could you do such a thing?"

Zephyrdor looked around uncomfortably. "I...don't know. I'm very sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, mister," Serafall snapped back. "Once we are done questioning you at the Gremory Hall, I'm giving you a spanking. You hear me?"

"Yes, Lady Leviathan," Zephyrdor said sadly while lowering his head in shame.

The Satan then turned around and saw the Sith Lord. "This must be your savior, Lord Sigfield."

After a moment of looking at Bane, Serafall's demeanor became more serious, and she even felt intimidated. This had to be the most evil looking person she had ever seen.

"Your name is Darth Bane, correct?" Serafall asked warily.

"Yes," Bane replied.

"Lord Sigfield said that you are a human. Is that true?" Serafall questioned.

"It is," the Sith Master responded.

Zephyrdor's head quickly rose up, then he gazed at Bane.

Serafall then took a moment to consider what to ask next. "Do you have a sacred gear or Longinus?"

Darth Bane gave a confused look. "What are those?"

Serafall remained quiet. She then looked back at Gerald to see if he could give any insight. The man shrugged. Serafall then scratched her head for several moments while observing the Sith Lord. Zephyrdor's mouth hung open, looking at Bane like he had ten heads.

Serafall then shook herself out of her contemplation. "Well, I look forward to meeting with you, Darth Bane."

Bane gave a slight nod in response.

Serafall brought her attention back to Gerald. "I have to go now. Enjoy the rest of your ride!"

"Thank you, Lady Leviathan," Gerald smiled in return.

The magic rectangle dissipated just after the holographic figure of Serafall descended back into the table. Gerald then picked up his wine again and slowly sipped on it. For the time being, all Zephyrdor could do was stare at Bane with a dumbfounded expression on his face, sweating the whole time.

_Gremory Grand Hall, Underworld_

Darth Bane, Gerald and Zephyrdor walked up the steps leading to the huge entrance of the Gremory Hall. The three were being escorted by the same guards that came along with them on the train, with two guards strictly leading the way for the restrained Zephyrdor by his shoulders. Two Gremory Hall employees opened the large front doors when the company of guests reached the top of the stairs. They all walked through and turned left after a short walk down the central hallway. A few more hallways later, the group approached a door in the distance that was wide open on the right side of the hall.

Ajuka Beelzebub waited next to the open door, fixing his eyes on his long-time friend and associate that he hadn't seen in ages. Gerald approached Ajuka and gave him a friendly handshake along with a warm smile. They both exchanged a few words, then Ajuka motioned for the two guards escorting Zephyrdor to take the young devil through the door. Just as Zephyrdor was taken into whatever lies beyond the door, Ajuka followed behind them and shut the door. The remaining eight guards then attended to their duties regarding Gerald and Bane.

"This way, please," one of the guards said to Gerald and Bane.

The guards and the two guests backtracked a few hallways and headed towards the main ballroom where the Young Devils Gathering was being held. Arriving at the ballroom doors, two guards went to a door each and pushed them open, revealing the party inside. Gerald followed the other guards inside, but Darth Bane stayed put. Hanging on the left wall a foot above his head was a map of the Underworld, but this one was different that the one he saw in Gerald's journal. Instead of only showing the devil territory, this map also included the boundaries of Grigori (and other fallen angel territories) and the Realm of the Dead. Bane studied the map and took note of certain cities and notable locations.

After many moments, one of the guards holding the doors said, "Excuse me, milord. The party is this way."

Bane took his eyes off the map and walked towards the guards holding the doors open. The one who spoke to Bane stared at the Sith Lord in wariness and fear. He could tell that the man held great power, and in knowing this he properly addressed Bane as a lord. Bane was now in the ballroom itself, music was blaring from speakers built in the walls and ceiling and tables dominated the floor space along with the large amount of people inside. He saw Gerald speaking with a man who had crimson red hair and bizarre gold and gray shoulder pauldrons. Bane marched towards Gerald and the crimson man, and while doing so he also noticed by the increasing amount of people staring at him that he was quickly becoming the center of attention in the room.

The crimson man said, "You must be Darth Bane."

"Are you one of the Satans?" Bane asked.

"Yes," the devil replied, "my name is Sirzechs Lucifer. I must personally thank you for saving Lord Sigfield from that dangerous incident in Dundee. I have known Sigfield for a long time, and it would have pained me deeply to see him captured or killed."

Bane thought about the incident back at Dundee. That situation reminded him of another similar event that happened when protecting a young Darth Zannah on Onderon. He remembered his Force lightning instantly turning people to ash when he had just two Orbalisks on his body. After Onderon, he went on to wear hundreds of Orbalisks, and he grew considerably more powerful in the decade after losing his Orbalisk armor. Right now, Bane is at the height of his power, and he expected nothing less than the utter annihilation of his foes.

"Where are the other Satans?" Bane asked.

"They are in the process of questioning Zephyrdor in the meeting room. We don't know how long that's going to take," Gerald explained.

"In the meantime, feel free to walk around and get some food from the dining table," Sirzechs said. "When they are done with Zephyrdor, we will come let you know and we can talk about your situation."

Bane nodded and walked away.

Sirzechs leaned towards Gerald and whispered, "He looks worse than Hades. What kind of power does he have?"

"I'm not fully sure. He did mention something about the 'Force' and the 'dark side'," Gerald whispered in return.

Walking further away from Sirzechs and Gerald, Bane headed towards the food line. Now almost every set of eyes in the ballroom were on him. Bane of course stood out like a sore thumb with his cloak and massive frame, and any devil who stood in his path stepped away from the cruel-looking giant.

The devils were chatting about him now:

"Is that who Lord Lucifer said was Darth Bane?"

"That's the guy who saved Sigfield."

"The man looks sick…"

Bane got a plate-full of food and then wandered around trying to find a private spot to sit. He eventually came across a door along the wall furthest from the second floor balcony. Sensing no one inside, Bane opened the door and walked inside. The place seemed to be an unused rec room that had some tables, chairs, and electronic screens along the walls. Bane locked the door behind him and took a seat on the nearest chair. He began eating his food, not caring that whatever he is eating is unknown to him. With his free hand, Bane reached into his pocket and pulled out his holocron, wondering if speaking to his own gatekeeper could help him in any way in regards to his situation in the Underworld. The Sith Lord placed the holocron on the table and activated it using the power of the dark side. The gatekeeper, bearing the appearance of himself wearing Orbalisk armor, illuminated into view and stared down at its creator. A respectful smile came across its face.

"Hello, Creator," the gatekeeper said. "How may I be of service?"

"I need to ask you something...Something seemingly impossible," Bane replied.

The gatekeeper tilted its head in curiosity. "What is it?"

"Is there any natural or unnatural event, with or without the use of the Force, that could bring someone to another galaxy?" Bane asked.

"There have been recorded events of wormholes transporting material from point to point within a galaxy," the gatekeeper replied after some thought, "but there is no evidence of them connecting to other galaxies."

The gatekeeper said exactly what Bane already knew about galactic phenomena. Asking his own gatekeeper may have been a useless effort.

"I'm fairly certain that I'm in another galaxy, but I still need to meditate on it to be fully certain," Bane said to his silhouette.

The gatekeeper's eyes went wide in shock. "If you are in the wrong galaxy, then the Rule of Two may have been for nothing."

Bane remained silent. The last thing we wanted was to hear that statement. Though his face only displayed a slight narrowing of the eyes, his inner fire grew immensely, manifesting into a white hot furnace. Bane was now very pissed off.

Outside Bane's private room, Issei Hyoudou and Genshirou Saji were talking with one another.

"That Darth Bane guy looked really scary," said Issei.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like he's much of a friendly person," Saji replied.

A moment later, a high-class devil from the Beleth clan bumped into Saji and knocked the drink out of his hand.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Saji said to the devil.

The male devil scoffed, "Watch where I'm going? You should be the one getting out of my way! How dare a lowly peerage member such as yourself tell me what to do!"

"Oh yeah?" Saji replied, "then take this!"

Saji punched the devil in the side of the jaw, making him stumble backwards.

"Now you've asked for it!" the high-class devil yelled, then launched himself into Saji.

The two rolled around and clawed at each other of the ground. Issei stepped in and grabbed the Beleth devil from the back of his coat, proceeding to throw him into a nearby table. One of the Beleth devil's peerage members came running to the scene and punched Issei in the stomach. Now a full-out fight between the four of them broke out.

A huge uproar from the crowd in the ballroom erupted, drowning out the sound of the music. People shouted in anger and excitement at the fight going on near the center of the ballroom. At the left side of the hall near the entrance, another fight broke out between three other devils. The room was now in chaos; some people were screaming in fear and others cheered at the sight of what now is thrilling entertainment. Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri tried to break up the fight going on with Issei, Saji and the other two devils, but their efforts came to no avail. There was nothing now but anger everywhere.

From the second-floor balcony, Sirzechs launched a stream of his Power of Destruction at the large chandelier that hung above the center of the room, obliterating it. Everyone in the room froze, including the ones on the balcony like Gerald, Azazel, Baraqiel, Shemhazai, Michael, and Grayfia.

"That's enough!" the Crimson Satan yelled. "The fighting and screaming ends here! If you do not follow my order, then I will deal with you personally. Is that clear?!"

Grayfia had never seen her husband so mad in her life. She ran up behind him and pulled him away from the balcony ledge to comfort him. As soon as she did though, she realized that for some reason she was angry as well. Gerald, Azazel, Baraqiel, Shemhazai and Michael even felt pissed off and vengeful. But all at once, the sensations hit them; they felt they were submerged in a wave of hate and fury, the anger filled the air and manipulated their emotions. This sea of hatred was coming from a source...coming from one of the rooms along the back wall.

Darth Bane exited the rec room and looked at the room-full of stunned people. All of these non-Force sensitives could feel the waves of anger emanating from Bane, they could feel it in their minds as though it were in fact real. The people closest to Bane backed up carefully until they were well clear of the Sith Lord, and everyone else looked at him as though he was the ultimate source of evil.

Sirzechs thought of everything Gerald told him about Darth Bane. "How could a human without any sacred gear do this?"

With the room dead silent and Sirzechs speaking louder than he initially thought, everyone in the ballroom heard what he said. With the exception of Gerald, everybody looked at him with facial expressions resembling fish out of water.


	4. Land of the Sith

**Land of the Sith**

Darth Zannah rubbed her eyes for a moment as she closed the book in her hand on natural and elemental science. She had been reading for hours straight, going at it non-stop ever since she arrived inside Gerald's humongous library. She had been trying to find information on abnormal phenomena in nature or in lab settings, but she found nothing so far. Feeling her stomach rumble, she tossed the book on the desk along with the others she had already read and the dozens more to be read. Zannah had forgotten that she was absolutely starving.

The Sith lady walked down one of the main alleyways of the second floor and headed towards one of the large windows at the front of the building. Now looking outside the window, she observed the three food places that are located directly across the street from the library. As Zannah was about to walk on over to one of the food stores, she realized that she didn't have any devil currency on her. Swearing under her breath, she tried to think of what to do. While looking at the pedestrians, a smile then came across her face. She reached out with the Force to dominate the mind of a random citizen on the sidewalk, telepathically making the male devil go into the restaurant on the very left to put in a large order of food.

After ten minutes, the devil walked out of the store with two large bags full of prepared meals. Zannah went down to the first floor of the library to meet the man outside. The man waited patiently for Zannah on the top step of the grand staircase, staring forward with an indifferent and almost dead-looking gaze in his eyes. Zannah opened one of the glass doors and retrieved her food bags from the man, then she went back inside. Now with the Force link gone from his mind, the male devil shook his head briefly and pondered why he was at the library.

Zannah sat back down at her desk and took out some rapped meals from the bags. She did not care what that man had ordered for her because she can eat anything, even if she had no clue what the food item was. While munching on a hamburger, Zannah opened up the closest unread book with her right hand.

"Sorry, Bane. We may be stuck here for a while," she said to herself.

_Gremory Grand Hall, Underworld_

Darth Bane was sitting down on a sofa chair in one of the guest lounges at the west end of the Gremory Hall. He already had his meeting with the Satans and was now waiting for Sigfield to return from using the restroom. Bane's meeting with the four Satans did not go well; they were more clueless on the matter than what he and Gerald were. They gave great insight into magical techniques on teleportation and the likes, but that was all useless for Bane's biggest questions. The Satans knew nothing on any phenomena that could send someone through space and possibly time. Even Ajuka's knowledge and wisdom on the magic system and the sciences could not answer any of Bane's questions at all.

The Dark Lord turned his head at the sound of Gerald's footsteps approaching from behind. The devil then walked by Bane's left side and took a seat on the large couch along the opposite wall.

"I can tell that you're very disappointed with how the meeting went," Gerald said casually. "Even I was getting frustrated after a while."

Bane took a moment to think. "I need to find a place for Zannah and I to stay while we are stuck here in the Underworld. I don't plan on being a homeless traveler if I don't have to."

"What kind of place? An apartment?" Gerald questioned.

"No, somewhere more isolated and something larger. I need a temporary base for our Sith order," Bane elaborated.

Gerald thought hard about any place that matched Bane's preferences. "If it's a secret base that you want, I think I know just the place."

Gerald motioned for Bane to follow him out of the room. The devil took Bane to the same map posted on the wall just outside of the ballroom doors. Bane recognized the map immediately and all of the places that he studied the last time he saw it.

"After the Great War between the Three Factions, many of the devil clans went extinct. And in their disappearance they left behind their castles and mansions. To this day they still stand, but many of them have sustained extensive environmental damage over the years and have been looted countless times. There are thirty-nine abandoned estates in total, but there is one that I think will suit your tastes," Gerald explained.

The devil placed his finger on a specific dot of the Underworld map.

"Marbas Castle," Bane read the wording out loud.

"Out of all the deserted properties, this one is in the best condition," Gerald mentioned. "It is also the most solitary one, making it likely that very few people have visited the place."

Bane became very interested. "Where can I find this castle?"

"I will bring you there," Gerald replied, "but we will have to hop on another train, and afterwards I would need to teleport you there myself."

_Indra's Castle, Hindu realm_

Indra looked out of his office window, staring at the rain clouds that still covered the skies in his realm. But he couldn't procrastinate any longer, not while the Trimurti gods behind him have taken their seats on the opposite side of his enormous office desk.

Indra turned around and looked at the three Hindu gods. "Gentlemen, welcome."

Brahma gave a slight bow. "It has been quite a while since we have last met, Indra."

Vishnu gave a nod in agreement, and Shiva remained silent.

"Yes, it has been some time since we have all gathered together at a single place," said Indra, "but we all know that this meeting here today is not for shits and giggles. Shiva and I have been talking about the dark ones in our visions, and Shiva has confirmed that they are roaming the Underworld as we speak."

"Is that true, Shiva?" Vishnu was astonished.

"Yes," Shiva replied. "There have been reports in the devil town of Dundee on a man that fits the visual description in our visions. Along with that, while I was reading the minds of people in the Underworld, I encountered two minds that completely brushed off my powers. Their minds were impenetrable."

"That's impossible," Brahma snapped, "not even Ophis can resist our mind reading abilities. Are you suggesting that these dark beings are more powerful than her?"

"Possibly," Shiva replied.

"If that's the case, then we have ourselves a bad situation," Vishnu replied.

Brahma quickly stood up. "We need to warn the other mythologies immediately!"

"That seems like a bad idea," Indra replied. "We don't have enough intel on these beings for us to resort to broadcasting such a warning."

"Indra is right," Shiva said while gently pulling Brahma back into his seat. "It would be stupid for us to warn every mythology about two people that we know nothing about. And unlike the mindless beast Trihexa, the dark ones are people...Probably highly intelligent people. This means we can reason and negotiate with them."

"Them being sentient and intelligent does not mean that they will be willing to negotiate," Vishnu pointed out. "For example, if one of us showed up in the Realm of the Dead for 'diplomatic work', Hades would try to blow our heads off."

Shiva shook his head. "You are assuming too much too soon. To learn about someone, you must communicate with them first and try to develop relations. If that fails entirely, then you resort to brute force."

"I don't like where this is going," Brahma put in head in his palm.

"Well buckle up because this shit is about to get real," Indra said sarcastically.

Shiva leaned forward and clasped his hands on Indra's desk. "I will go speak with the dark ones myself. But first I must discuss this matter with Sirzechs and the other Satans before I roam around their realm."

"You're crazy!" Vishnu exclaimed. "We have felt their power in our visions. Going in by yourself could get you killed."

"So you suggest that we all go hunt them down, or amass our armies to take them out? All while spreading sudden and mass panic to every mythology? I thought you were supposed to be Vishnu the Preserver, not Vishnu the Terrorizer," Shiva replied bluntly.

Vishnu had nothing to say in return.

Indra scratched his head. "Well Shiva, if this is what you want to do, you can go right on ahead and do it."

_Marbas Castle, Underworld_

Bane and Gerald emerged from a magic circle that Gerald used to teleport them to the deserted Marbas Castle. The castle looked more like a stronghold than a huge mansion, with towering outer walls designed to keep things out. At the corners of the square shaped property were what seemed to be scouting or defense towers, with enough space at their tops to fit up to a few people each.

"As you can see, the Marbas clan used to _really _like their privacy. Years before their extinction, Lord Marbas ordered his estate to be turned into a damn fortress. He held a full garrison of guards and soldiers active at all times, and any guests wishing to enter had to go through a full security check before passing through the front gates," said Gerald.

"I don't blame him," Bane replied. "One must be prepared for conflict at any moment."

Gerald looked at Bane, remembering other details. "That's actually kind of what happened. Before this estate was upgraded, a rival clan attacked the palace and ended up killing his youngest daughter. After that incident, Lord Marbas developed a bad case of paranoia. He and his family were always quiet and reclusive, but the death of his daughter made him withdraw from virtually everything. Not too long after the first attack, the same clan went in for a second raid, but his newly refitted estate shrugged off the attack and his forces counterattacked the enemy clan, killing loads of their servants and guards."

Bane and Gerald began walking towards the front gates as Gerald tried to recall more details.

"After the second and final attack on his property, Lord Marbas never stepped outside the palace walls ever again until he and his clan were called to serve in the Great War," Gerald mentioned.

Bane nodded as he processed the facts from the story. The two stopped a meter away from the aged and rusted gates, which were actually armored front doors. Gerald felt around the surface of the doors, trying to find a lock hole or switch of some sort to get in.

"Well, we may need to blast our way in," Gerald suggested.

"No," Bane replied. "If this is going to be my base, I want to keep everything in the best condition possible. Don't you have wings that you can use?"

Gerald laughed in response. "I honestly don't know why I didn't think of that."

His wings extended from his back seemingly out of nowhere, and up went the devil in the air.

He looked down from high above. "Do you want me to fly you over the wall?"

Bane used the Force to augment his jumping height to phenomenal proportions. In one great leap, he cleared himself way over the wall that was many meters tall and landed on the other side gracefully. Gerald flew down and landed right next to Bane.

"Jesus, you can jump high!" Gerald was impressed. "That has to be an Underworld record by a long shot."

They both walked across what used to be the front garden, which was now a jungle grown out of control. They pushed themselves through the plant life that crowded their legs and encountered what looked like the front doors to the palace itself. Gerald grabbed one of the handle doors and gave it a strong push, and to his surprise the door opened. He didn't expect it to be unlocked.

"The inside is a lot bigger than I initially thought," said Gerald. "This place is massive!"

Bane looked around at the dusty floor and walls that had a design akin to the interior of a cathedral. The Sith Lord walked over to the vintage furniture and decorations along the walls and inspected them.

"These haven't been touched in ages," Bane noted.

Gerald looked around once more. "From the looks of the dust and everything else, its seems like no one visited this place. Though I'm not sure why the front door was unlocked."

Bane expanded his senses through the Force and sensed no one in or near the estate. The Sith Lord and the devil walked up and down every hallway on each floor and searched every room in the palace. Once they were done, they returned back to the front porch.

"This is most certainly one of the largest castles in the Underworld, not too far off from the size of the Bael Castle," said Gerald.

Bane knew there was more to the castle. "I can sense more rooms and passages beneath us."

"We searched this place high and low, I doubt there's anything more to the palace," Gerald replied.

Bane trekked to the back end of the estate and opened the door to one of the storage rooms. Gerald followed him inside, and Bane felt around the back wall of the room. He felt one of the wooden planks on the wall press in, then came the sound of mechanical parts inside the walls and floor. The tiles beneath their feet slowly opened up, and after stepping away from the growing opening, the two visitors can see a large stone staircase that lead somewhere far below the ground floor.

"I told you so," Bane remarked.

"Your powers work in strange ways," Gerald responded.

They walked down the long pathway of stairs until they reached the pitch-black bottom. Bane flipped the nearest switch on the wall next to the staircase, then came on a series of ceiling lights that extended down hallways going in all directions.

"Holy shit," Gerald mumbled.

They searched all of the hallways and rooms that littered the secret basement level of the Marbas Castle. The total space in the sublevel took up as much room and volume as the entire palace above their heads. The complete estate was in reality twice as big as they initially concluded.

"This is unbelievable! The estate is nearly twice the volume of the Bael Castle. The clans and even I always thought that the Bael family had the largest property, but I guess we were all mistaken," Gerald said in amazement.

Bane looked at an ancient blueprint that he found inside a locker in one of the underground rooms. "These pages show that their construction work down here was never completed."

Gerald looked at the manual in Bane's hands. "A kitchen...research lab...prison cells? They were trying to build an underground mansion? I knew that these empty rooms were meant for something, but this is far beyond my expectations."

Bane flipped through a few more pages and found a subtitle dubbed 'PURPOSE'.

Bane read out loud, "_'The purpose of everything I have done down here is to prepare for the potential end of the world. Great Red, Ophis, Trihexa, and some of the other mythologies are too unpredictable to be trusted; there will be no long-lasting peace. But I refuse to let me and my family die in the process, I will do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of my clan.'_ And yet his clan still died. What a fool."

"Great Red and Ophis were partially known to the public, but I never thought he knew the existence of Trihexa. That will be a question for another day," Gerald said.

Bane and Gerald returned to the main floor of the palace and walked back to the front porch.

"I have a question for you, Gerald," Bane asked the devil.

"What is it?" he replied.

"Why are you helping me?" said Bane.

Gerald responded, "You saved me from what could have possibly been death. For that, I owe you my life."

"You willingly owe your life to a Dark Lord of the Sith?" Bane chuckled. "Just know that I have killed many adversaries. Men, women, and even children have died at my hands."

"The evil things you have done in the past are of little concern to me, all that matters is that you saved my life when you could have let me get captured or killed," Gerald expressed. "As long as you don't plan on hurting or killing me for the fun of it, I will serve you with all that I can offer."

"Killing without purpose is an activity for sadistic fools," Bane replied. "You will certainly be a great ally to me and Zannah."

Saying those final words made Bane think of his apprentice. He searched his apparel and realized that he had no way to contact Zannah.

"I need to speak with my apprentice. Is there a way for you to contact her?" Bane asked.

Gerald nodded. A small magic circle formed next to his left ear.

"Can you get Darth Zannah for me, please?" Gerald asked his library manager.

A number of moments later, Gerald motioned for Bane to speak into the magic circle that floated completely still in the air.

"Bane, are you there?" Zannah's voice rang from the circle.

"I'm here," Bane responded. "Did you find anything useful at the library yet?"

"Not really," she replied, "there's nothing so far that can tell me of anything that could have brought us to the Underworld. I'm currently reading some sections on mythological magic. It may take weeks, or even months before I find anything that could help us."

"We will search for years if we have to. I'm ready for that," said the Sith Master.

"You've been up to something, haven't you?" Zannah replied.

Bane explained, "I have found a base for us to live for the time being. It is an abandoned castle previously owned by a devil clan that went extinct years ago. It's in decent condition and is well hidden. Open your Underworld map."

The sound of paper came through the circle.

"Go ahead," Zannah said.

"Do you see a landmark called Marbas Castle?" Bane questioned.

"Found it," she replied.

Bane stated, "Go to that landmark when you want to. Bring whatever books and resources along with you, I may need to study some of those texts myself."

"Understood. Goodbye," Zannah replied.

Gerald dissipated the magic circle.

Bane looked at Gerald. "I need workers to clean and repair this place, and servants to maintain it. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, milord," Gerald replied. "That won't be an issue."

"Good," Bane responded, "we have a lot of work to do."

ONE MONTH LATER

The things that Darths Bane and Zannah accomplished over the course of a month far surpassed anyone else's efforts in the Underworld, even things that other devils tried to attain over family generations. In one month, Bane and Zannah became the two wealthiest people in the entire Underworld. Their expertise in merchandise, trade, and business back on Ciutric IV allowed them to dominate the primitive economy of the Underworld. As such, their names have been all over the Underworld news as week by week they gained more servants, workers, guards, and assets. Their new fortress was very close to being fully repaired and renovated, with the former Marbas Castle now being called the Sith Sanctum. Economists couldn't explain how the Sith Lords were able to pull it all off.

About two weeks ago, Shiva had come by to visit the two Darths after talking to Sirzechs and Serafall. With the large influx of resources and people being transferred around and all ending up at one place, it wasn't that hard for Shiva to find their castle. The Hindu god had asked them about their intentions and future activities, but he came out somewhat empty handed. Shiva learned about their bizarre situation and how they wanted to get back to a planet called Ambria, but that was all they wanted to discuss. After apologizing to Gerald for Indra's rash behavior involving Zephyrdor, Shiva gave a clear and stern warning to the Dark Lords for them to not cause any widespread chaos, destruction, or crime. Bane and Zannah said that they will do those things if they end up being their resort to getting back to Ambria. The Darths might have potentially gained an enemy.

In the current day, Darth Bane walked down the polished hallway towards Gerald who was sitting on one of the grand sofas in the main living room.

"This place is flourishing more than ever. What are you going to do with all of your assets?" Gerald asked.

Bane sat down in a single-person sofa and replied, "It is all for the Sith cause. I will buy rare texts, informants, spies, mercenaries, or whatever helps us to achieve our goal."

Bane held in his hands the same blueprints to the palace that he read a month ago. He remembered that certain beings were mentioned, ones that posed the biggest threat to the world. As he read the deceased Lord Marbas' words, he saw the names again: Trihexa, Ophis, and Great Red.

"Marbas said that these three things posed the greatest threat to the safety of the world," Bane said to Gerald. "Do you know anything about them?"

Gerald received the blueprints from Bane's hand. "Yes, these three beings are the classic most powerful beings in the world, even more powerful than Shiva and the other Hindu gods."

Gerald fixed his glasses and continued, "Trihexa is somewhat of an unknown. All I know is that before the God of the Bible died in the Great War, he found the existence of this mindless creature and put thousands of forbidden seals on it to lock it away. Now only the top members of the mythological bureaucracies know of its existence, and since I've done business with many of them, I was fortunate enough to learn about the Apocalyptic Beast.

Ophis is the most well-known of the three. She is the main leader of the terrorist organization known as the Khaos Brigade and she is famous for enhancing the powers of her members through her snake ability. Well, she's not really a "she". Ophis is a shapeshifter, able to alter her form and gender. In the past she had the form of an elderly man.

Then there's Great Red. There's more information about him than what is known about Trihexa, but not to the extent of what we know about Ophis. Great Red is probably the most interesting of the three, since his main power revolves around dreams. From what sources have said, he can descend into the thoughts of others and turn dreams into reality."

Bane rose an eyebrow. "He can manifest dreams in the physical world?"

"From the information I have, yes, he can," Gerald replied. "Though I don't know if you have to be asleep and dreaming for him to affect you, or if he can also affect your conscious imagination."

Bane sent a telepathic suggestion to Zannah for her to come downstairs. If this information is true, Bane thought, maybe he could somehow use that power as a stepping stone for getting back to Ambria.

Zannah turned the hallway corner and marched towards Bane and Gerald. "Do you have something important for me?"

"Yes," Bane replied, "Gerald told me about a being called Great Red, who can supposedly turn dreams into reality."

Zannah held up one of Gerald's books in her right hand. "I read a section on Great Red a few hours ago."

"Lucky you picked the right novel from off my library shelves," Gerald mentioned.

Zannah leaned over Bane and showed him the pages, paragraphs, and illustrations on Great Red. After scanning through the pages, Bane became even more intrigued.

"Where can we find Great Red?" Bane asked Gerald.

"He's likely in the Dimensional Gap," Gerald replied. "Are you actually planning on confronting him?"

Just as Gerald finished his sentence, a guard came in through the front doors and approached the Sith Lords.

"Milords," the devil guard gave a bow, "there are visitors waiting outside the perimeter gates."

"Oh? Who are they?" Zannah questioned.

"One of them claims to be Vali Lucifer, and he has three friends with him," the guard responded.

Gerald was surprised. "Why would Vali be here?"

Bane sensed the four visitors standing outside the outer walls, and he sensed no hostile intentions from their minds. And he never received any premonitions that suggested something bad was about to happen.

"Let them in," Bane replied. "I want to see what sort of things they know."

"Yes, milord," the guard replied, then went and walked out the front door.

Soon after, Gerald and the Sith Lords went outside the palace and approached the four visitors who were walking down the central walkway through the front gardens. Two devil guards escorted the guests at their flanks, while dozens more watched them from their stations as they met with their Sith masters at the walkway's half-way point.

"You must be Darth Bane and Darth Zannah," Vali said.

Bane nodded. "I assume you are the one who goes by the name Vali?"

"Yeah," said Vali. "And I wasn't expecting to see you here as well, Sigfield."

"I work here as their head associate and advisor," Gerald replied.

"Good stuff," Vali then looked back at his comrades. "These are my teammates: Arthur Pendragon, Bikou, and Kuroka."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Arthur gave a slight bow to Bane and Zannah.

"What's up?" Bikou said frivolously.

Kuroka was so spooked by the Sith Lords that she didn't want to talk.

"What is your purpose for being here?" Zannah asked.

Vali returned his attention to the Darths. "I wanted to see the richest people in the Underworld in person. You've been the main topic of the news for the past month. Not only that, but I heard that you two are very powerful as well. Maybe we should battle each other in a one-on-one match...a sort of friendly competition."

"We do not fight for pleasure, boy," Bane replied sternly.

Arthur turned towards Vali. "I reminded you countless times, Vali. Not everyone is interested in brawling for fun."

"Whatever," Vali replied.

Zannah took the opportunity to potentially gather some info. "Do any of you know anything on the whereabouts of Great Red?"

The four guests were stunned for a moment.

"Oooo, I'd love to hear this!" Bikou said while rubbing his hands together.

"Why do you want to know Great Red's location?" Vali asked with massive interest.

Bane responded, "His power over dreams could be vital in our efforts to return back to the planet of Ambria. We plan on stealing his power for our needs."

Zannah added, "For now we may only need to acquire a small sample of his power since we need to study it and understand its properties before we can use it."

Bikou's mouth dropped to the ground.

Kuroka shook her head and finally decided to speak. "I really don't like where this is going…"

"You two are either brilliant or insane," Vali muttered, "but whatever it is, I like it!"

"I would not advise going forward with this plan. Great Red is the strongest being in the world along with Ophis. This could spell disaster for us or for others," Arthur mentioned.

"Arthur might be right. This plan sounds too over the top," Gerald agreed.

"No being in this world can stand up to the power of the dark side," Bane assured to Gerald.

Vali looked at Arthur. "I've been preparing for all of these years to face someone as strong as Great Red. I don't know if I am ready for that now, but these two seem to be. I want to see if taking him down is possible, and if so, I want to learn from their actions."

Arthur sighed. "The choice is yours, and I will do as you say. I can use Caliburn to take us into the Dimensional Gap and search for Great Red there."

Bane looked at Zannah. "Go with them, I will look for other information or assets that can help us."

Zannah nodded in acknowledgement, then Darth Bane walked with Gerald back towards the front doors of the castle.

Bikou embraced Kuroka playfully and said, "Hear that, my dear? We're going to confront Great Red! I hope you packed a few tons of kitty litter, cause you're shaking like crazy."

Zannah stood in the middle of her new acquaintances. "I'm ready when you are."

Vali generated a large magic circle beneath their feet, and a second later they teleported to some other location.

Back inside the castle, Darth Bane walked with Gerald down one of the first floor hallways.

"Did you mention earlier that there's something called a 'Rating Game' going on this evening?" Bane asked.

"Yes," Gerald replied, "it's a match tonight between Bedeze Abaddon and Roygun Belphegor. There will be lots of people there at the stadium, including the Satans and some of the mythological gods."

"Tell them I will be attending the match," Bane ordered. "In the meantime, I want you to watch over my base while Zannah and I are gone."

"Of course, Lord Bane," Gerald responded.

_Bael Castle, Underworld_

Lord Zepar barged into the meeting room of the Bael Castle where Lord Bael and six other devil lords, along with some ultimate- and high-class devils, were seated around the central table.

"Lord Bael, I just received word that Darth Bane will be attending the Rating Game tonight," said Lord Zepar.

Everyone in the room started chatting even more now.

Lord Vassago leaned towards Lord Bael who was sitting next to him. "This is the perfect time to carry out our plan."

"I agree", Lord Bael replied.

Lord Bael stood up and tapped his wine glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention. The room was now dead silent.

"With the coming of Lord Zepar's news, I have decided that we will enact our plan tonight at the Rating Game stadium," said Lord Bael. "This is the perfect opportunity to take out Darth Bane in a spot where we can show his corpse to the whole world. He is an abomination in our society, he defies the laws and values that have governed the Underworld for years. And as a human, he makes it even worse! We will show the Underworld that we are the true power over society, because we always have been! And once we eliminate him, we will go after Darth Zannah as well!"

A loud cheer filled the room in response to his inspiration.


	5. Aberration

**Aberration**

Darth Zannah looked around at her new surroundings as she and her escorts emerged from Vali's magic circle. They are now at the bottom of a valley within a mountain range where the mountains are thousands of meters in height. Their snow covered peaks reflected the evening light of the day, and Zannah noticed that the day seemed brighter than the dusk back at her castle. Vali must have transported them far enough for them to gain a few extra hours of daylight. Zannah remembered from her studies that the greater a devil's experience and demonic power, the further they can travel via teleportation, and the more people they can take per 'jump'. This noticeable difference in daylight suggests that they must have travelled at least a few thousand kilometers, hence proving Vali's impressive demonic power.

"We are here," said Vali. "Is this place you had in mind to use Caliburn, Arthur?"

"Yes," Arthur replied. "We are over a thousand kilometers away from the nearest village, and these mountains can help to contain the power from whatever could happen here. I find this to be an ideal spot for us to keep collateral damage to a minimal."

Bikou scratched his head. "Will this place really minimize collateral damage from fighting Great Red? I mean, this is _Great Red _we are talking about here."

Kuroka looked around nervously. "You know what, I change my mind. I'm going home."

"Oh no you don't, kitty! You decided to come with us, so you're staying with us," Bikou said while grabbing Kuroka by her tail, preventing her from walking any further.

Zannah turned to Arthur and said, "We need to start searching for Great Red."

"Give me a moment while I charge up Caliburn. Then I can have it take us into the Dimensional Gap," Arthur replied as his holy sword began to glow.

Zannah then turned her attention to Vali. "How much of a paycheck do you want for this?"

Vali looked back at her. "Oh, I'm not doing this for any money. I'm in this solely for the thrill of battle, but you can still pay me if you really feel obligated to do so."

Zannah laughed in her head. She would never pay someone who doesn't desire to be paid. A few moments later, Vali looked at Zannah with some doubt in his expression.

"I want to make sure that you have enough power to face this dragon. I can step in to help as well...hell I'll face him on my own if it comes down to that. But either way this won't be an easy battle," Vali expressed his thoughts.

Through her senses, Zannah reached out to her allies and allowed them to feel the Force. Each one of them took a step back as their bodies were filled with a sudden wave of connection to some worldly force.

"Do you feel it?" Zannah asked them. "Do you feel the power of the Force? Do you feel the power of the dark side?"

Her four companions stared at her with a big set of eyes, feeling chilly from her aura. To them, she was a black hole in the fabric of reality.

"Now that we are feeling more confident, let us search for this 'Great Red'," said Darth Zannah.

_Agreas Stadium, Underworld_

Issei Hyoudou fell to the floor of the Occult Research Club's private room, located in the residence section of the Agreas Stadium. He was now on his back, staring up at Akeno who has leaning over him in a seductive position. She had an icing-covered pastry stuck in between her breasts, which she put there intentionally.

"Come on now, Issei. Eat up!" Akeno purred while lowering her chest closer to his face.

"Whoa…" Issei mumbled as his face went red.

Xenovia swooped in and pushed Akeno aside. She copied Akeno's idea and put a small donut in her cleavage.

"No, I'm sure you like donuts a lot more," Xenovia said while unbuttoning more of her shirt.

Asia joined in with her own treat resting in her bosom. "Umm Issei...will you eat this instead?"

As the three girls fought over who gets to feed him, Issei's nose started to bleed, the blood streamed all the way down to his smiling mouth.

Nearby, Ravel and Irina stood and watched the commotion unravel. They both blushed.

"Hey, cut it out!" Irina shouted.

"Nonsense!" Xenovia replied. "You should be joining in as well. This is the perfect time to do it."

Irina felt embarrassed. She looked down at her own chest, feeling the urge to join in.

The front door to the private room swung open abruptly.

"What in the world is going on here?!" Rias screamed.

Akeno, Xenovia, and Asia playfully retreated to the closet at the back of the room.

"Looks like you've been having some fun, Issei," said Kiba.

Rias, Kiba, Gasper and Koneko walked in through the front door and closed in tight behind them. Koneko ran up to Issei who was now back on his feet.

"Now I have you all for myself," Koneko said as she embraced him in a hug.

Rias gave a jealous look at Issei from her spot on the largest couch. Issei then scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.

"I'm turning on the TV," Gasper announced.

The large HD flatscreen TV turned on with the push of a remote button, and the current channel was the Agreas Stadium broadcasting room. The male broadcaster and his co-host looked at the camera with pleasant demeanors.

"Alright folks, we are back from the channel intermission," said the broadcaster. "We are now just fifteen minutes away from the start of tonight's Rating Game between Bedeze Abaddon and Roygun Belphegor."

Akeno, Xenovia and Asia returned from cleaning themselves off in the closet and joined in with the rest of the group on the couches.

The host continued onscreen, "During our break, Hades and his grim reapers arrived and took their seats up in the VIP level. Zeus, Odin, Lugh, Azazel, Michael, and the Satans are also here tonight in their private quarters on the level above us."

The male co-host then added, "But there is one man that has captured the attention of all attendants and spectators of tonight's match. Darth Bane, the richest man in the Underworld, notified the stadium staff saying that he will be attending tonight's match. And with less than fifteen minutes before the start of the battle, the mysterious human still has not shown up."

"That's right, Cal. All of the gods, Satans, and noblemen showed up long ago. With the entrance gates soon closing, one question remains: where is Darth Bane?" the host finished.

Issei was taken aback by the news announcement. "That asshole is coming here?"

"I guess so," Kiba replied. "It seems like he's running a little late."

"I wonder how he and Darth Zannah got to become so rich so fast," Xenovia mentioned.

Akeno added, "They must have cheated somehow."

Rias shook her head. "My brother has been keeping a close eye on the banks and markets, and my father even met with Bane once on a business meeting. From what they told me, Bane and Zannah haven't done anything illegal so far."

"But something just doesn't seem right about it," said Irina. "Michael told me that they are humans who completely defy the Sacred Gear system, and even the magic system. This has never been seen before."

Issei's hand glowed green as Ddraig spoke. "If that's the case, then I wouldn't take them lightly."

Everyone in the room was somewhat surprised that the sealed dragon said something.

"What do you mean, Ddraig?" Issei asked his partner.

"That night when Darth Bane arrived at the Gremory Hall, I could tell that there was something wrong with him. Every person who contains demonic power or some sort of magical power, no matter how slight, I can sense. I felt no magical aura from him, he was as bland as the typical human, but his appearance showed that something was powering him. And when we were immersed in his anger, I knew then that he is dangerous," Ddraig explained.

"But what could be powering him?" Kiba questioned.

"I think it's something beyond our current understanding of magic, or maybe even the universe," Ddraig responded. "If he and Zannah defy both the Sacred Gear and magic system, then their powers may have transcended beyond anything we have. That is why I advise that you all take them more serious than the gods."

Everyone remained silent for a bit.

"My brother said something about the dark side of the Force," Rias muttered.

Right after she said that, the TV broadcasters got excited and told the cameramen to record in a specific direction.

The host said, "Well folks, it looks like someone is flying on a dragon in the distance, and they are heading right towards the stadium."

The figures got closer until they flew above the stadium, which had its top dome retracted. It was now evident who the person and dragon were.

"No way," the co-host shouted, "it's Darth Bane! And he's riding on Tannin's back!"

[...]

Tannin flew over the stadium and began a flight path for a go-around.

"It seems like they have the dome pulled back tonight," Tannin shouted over the sound of the wind.

Darth Bane looked down at the crowded stadium off to his side. "Fly me in and drop me off at my reserved balcony."

"Fly you in?" Tannin asked. "Normally all VIP guests need to check in at the private gate."

"I paid you to be my transport and to do as I say," Bane replied sharply, "_not_ to question me."

Tannin looked down at the stadium. "If you say so. This will be the first time ever that someone showed up to a Rating Game in such a bold way."

Tannin did a nose dive towards the center of the stadium. The air grew strong around their bodies as they descended rapidly towards the ground. At about 40 meters above the ground, Tannin broke out of the dive by taking a sharp turn and abruptly raising the front of his body. The stadium then erupted into a deafening roar of cheers and shouts from the fans below.

"Shit!" Tannin exclaimed as he quickly turned, nearly colliding into Zeus' private balcony.

"Where is your seat?" Tannin asked his rider.

"Keep flying along the contour, I will tell you when to halt," Bane replied.

Hades and Lugh bursted out laughing at the sight of Zeus sprawled out on the floor of his balcony. The god dove to the ground thinking he was going to get slammed by Tannin.

"What's wrong, Zeus?" Lugh yelled from his seat, still giggling. "Never seen a dragon before?"

Zeus returned to his seat and gave an angry look at Lugh.

Bane spotted his reserved balcony. "Stop here, Tannin."

The dragon slowed down and hovered near the railing of the reserved overhang. Bane jumped off his back and landed on the polished floor of his quarters.

"Return here once the Rating Game is over. I need you to take me somewhere else afterwards," said Bane.

"Sounds good," Tannin replied. "See you then."

Tannin then ascended and flew out of the stadium. While Bane sat down in the oversized central seat of his private balcony, the grand stadium screen illuminated, revealing a lavender-haired man wearing a purple tuxedo.

"What an outstanding entrance made by Darth Bane! You don't see that very often," said the announcer Naud Gamigin. "Now with just five minutes before the start of tonight's match, let us introduce the rosters of both teams."

The screen then listed the members of Bedeze's team on the left and Roygun's team on the right. Under the two lists, two different camera views showed the teams sitting down in their respective seats waiting for the match to start. People cheered as the peerage members of both sides waved to the cameras, but over half of the fans in the stadium still had their eyes on Darth Bane. Bane did not bring his cloak, and everyone could see his half-nobleman and half-warrior outfit. They could also now fully see the dark side corruption on his face; the pale grayish looking skin, the fiery irises, the sunken and dark eye sockets, and the most stern and rugged facial structure that anyone has ever seen. He possessed a divine look of cruelty and hate.

The attendants more from the lower and middle classes of devil society looked up to Bane and Zannah with respect. When they saw Bane arrive, they cheered and shouted in approval. For them, he is a symbol of hope, encouragement and strength, since he and Zannah were nobodies who pulled off a seemingly impossible accomplishment that no one else could do. Most of them didn't really care that they are humans, in fact that made Bane and Zannah even more admirable (there are of course a number of low status zealots and devil supremacists who think otherwise). On the other hand, the devil clans and other devil aristocrats generally dislike Bane and Zannah. Upon Bane's arrival, many of the various clan members remained silent, and some felt insulted by his presence. Some of the more traditional and conservative clans, like the Bael clan, outright hate the Sith Lords. The only clans who have a more neutral view of the Darths are the Gremory, Sitri, Phenex, Agares, and Belial clan. But none of the aristocracy holds any positive views of them.

Even as Naud announced the rules of tonight's match, a number of people still looked up at the Dark Lord sitting in his seat. While looking at the stadium screen, Bane could sense someone walking down the hallway behind the outer balcony section towards his quarters. Then came a knock on the door, in which Bane decided to answer. He walked to the back wall and opened the door. There stood the fallen angel Azazel.

"Good day, Darth Bane," said Azazel. "Is it alright if I come in to have a chat with you?"

Bane nodded and motioned for Azazel to enter. The Governor General is actually one of the people Bane wished to talk to while he was here at the Rating Game. They both walked towards the balcony and decided to lean forward against the railing rather than sit down.

"I must say, you're nothing but the word of gossip here," Azazel mentioned. "I think everyone's more interested in you than the Rating Game."

Bane looked across the stadium, spotting many people giving quick glances up at him. "That may or may not be a good thing."

Azazel rose his eyebrows slightly. "You've got a point. But anyways, I hope you don't mind me asking you some questions."

"Depends on what the questions are," Bane replied.

Azazel took a moment to think of how to word his question. "The first part of your name, 'Darth', what does it mean?"

Bane turned his head towards Azazel with a smirk on his face. "You are the first person in years to ask that question."

Bane was actually kind of surprised that Azazel had enough nerve to bring that up.

"Darth is believed to have been derived from the ancient Rakatan word _Daritha_, meaning 'emperor', 'immortal' or 'conquest through death'," Bane explained. "My former blademaster once said that the title 'Darth' is more than just a symbol of power; it is a claim of supremacy. The Dark Lords who sought to enforce their wills on others would often bear this title. The word itself is a challenge aimed at others, a warning to bow down or be destroyed."

Bane looked back down at the masses of people below. "Only the strongest users of the dark side are worthy of its use, for a Darth is the embodiment of death."

Azazel thought about Bane's answer with a twisted look on his face. That was the most selfish and self-righteous thing he had ever heard in his life.

"That's...incredible," Azazel responded, not knowing what else to say.

The fallen angel had other questions about the ancient Rakatans and Dark Lords, but he wanted to avoid talking about the holier-than-thou aspects of Darth. However, he did want to know more about this 'dark side'.

"You said something about being a user of the dark side," said Azazel. "Does that explain your power? Is that how you defy the Sacred Gear system?"

"It doesn't explain my power," Bane corrected, "it _is _my power. The dark side of the Force is everywhere, it flows through everything and allows the universe to bind together. The dark side is the superior aspect of the Force, because unlike the light side, it unlocks one's full potential and discourages limitations."

Azazel was astounded. Something that was everywhere and in everything? Something that allows the universe to exist as it is? That sounded too ridiculous to be true, but it had to explain how Darth Bane and Darth Zannah could be who they are. But before Azazel could formulate a response, Bane began talking again.

"I hate the Sacred Gear system. It disgusts me," Bane blurted out.

Azazel tilted his head. "What makes you say that?"

Bane turned around and sat down in his large seat. "I read many texts about it. The whole system is a huge mistake; Heaven and its members are nothing but cowards and fools. They remind me too much of the Jedi Order."

Azazel sat down in the smaller seat to Bane's left side. "I don't understand what you're saying. How are they fools?"

Bane stared at Michael's balcony at the opposite end of the stadium. "They hand over their most powerful weapons and artifacts to the weak. To my knowledge, only humans can be given Sacred Gears. Instead of keeping their gears for themselves, the angels give them to the weak and the unworthy in the desperate hopes of distributing the power amongst the masses. They are trying to spread equality and compassion."

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Azazel questioned.

Bane shook his head. "It goes against nature itself! Their minds are warped by the flawed concepts of equality and fairness; we all know that equality is a lie. With equality in the way, mediocracy would prevail and no faction or group could attain greatness. Just imagine what Heaven could do in this world of yours if they kept all of their gears for themselves! They could dominate the world around them, they could sever many chains that bind them. Traits such as mercy, compassion and loyalty will prevent you from claiming what is rightfully yours."

Bane took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Heaven gives its rightful possessions to humans, and many of the Sacred Gear users end up working for other factions. And yet the angels are going around trying to recruit more members to increase their numbers and power. They wouldn't need to recruit in the first place if they didn't foolishly give away their gears. That is why those Jedi-like idiots should perish."

This guy is insane, Azazel thought. He remained silent, bewildered by the Sith Lord's strong views.

"I heard that you are a Sacred Gear and magic researcher and inventor," said Darth Bane.

Azazel shook himself out of his state of ponderment. "Yes, I am."

Bane added, "Do you have anything that could store the power of a Sacred Gear? Something like a container or seal?"

"Why would you need something like that?" Azazel asked with suspicion.

Bane mentally reached out to Azazel's mind and planted a seed of openness. "For magic research of my own, of course. I suppose you wouldn't mind helping out a fellow researcher."

"That won't be a problem at all," Azazel replied. "I've built my own prototype container that can store the power of a Sacred Gear. Theoretically, it should be able to store any magical property from any source, but I'd have to do more testing to be a hundred percent certain."

"Perfect," said Darth Bane. "I would like to buy your prototype device. I'm willing to pay a lot for it."

"You would?" Azazel was shocked. "Man, I didn't think anyone would ever want to buy something like that. I accept your offer."

Bane gazed at the stadium screen, watching the Rating Game unfold. "Meet with me again after the match, then you can bring me to your device and name your price for it."

Azazel stood up and said, "Alright, I'll see you again after the game."

As the fallen angel walked away, Bane quietly laughed at how easy it was to manipulate Azazel. Though Bane had to admit that Azazel's mind was more resilient than he had expected.

[...]

Quite some time has passed, and the Rating Game was getting closer to the end. Tonight's match was based around the rules of Dice Figure Game, where the kings of each team would roll a dice and send a limited number of teammates to battle depending on the number value rolled from the dice. This meant that there were several rounds of blitz styled battles, making it far longer than the traditional full team-on-team Rating Game. The second last round was in session, and Roygun's team was in the lead.

Darth Bane used some of that extra time to talk with some other people, but he never gained anything useful out of it. After watching the rounds for a bit and studying the devils' fighting styles and powers, Bane went down to the ground floor level and paced the stadium hallways. Each hall contained some average devil citizens that were walking by or getting food at concession stands. It must not be customary for high-status individuals to be roaming around the ground level, because the citizens who noticed Bane nearly stopped in their tracks and even made excessive room for him to pass.

Bane found himself outside at one of the stadium's outer walkways. There were a few benches that stood in front of the side railings that overlooked the edge of the floating island of Agreas. Bane walked over and sat down on one of the benches, staring out at the edge of the island that laid fifty meters away. Beyond that was a plummet of thousands of feet.

Bane decided to meditate and extend his senses to the galaxy beyond this world. This was the second time he scanned the galaxy for any signs of the Galactic Republic or any star systems that he recognizes. And this time he may want to try sending his awareness out further than the galactic edges. The Dark Lord's senses scanned the heavens above his head as he cancelled out most of his immediate surroundings.

[...]

"What are you seeing over there, scout?" Lord Vassago spoke into the magic circle next to his ear.

"I have eyes on Darth Bane," the devil scout replied. "He's at the northwest outer walkway sitting down on a bench. I think he's sleeping or something; he's just sitting there with his eyes closed."

"Okay. Give the greenlight for Lord Zepar's company to move in and take their positions," Lord Vassago ordered.

The magic circle next to his ear disappeared. Vassago then turned to Lord Bael who was staring back at him anxiously.

"They are moving in now," he said. "We should probably get our own company ready too."

"Yes, tell our troops to move to their assigned spots," Bael replied. "I just want to get this done and over with."

[...]

Bane couldn't sense the Republic nor any familiar star systems, not even pass the edges of the galaxy. He may have to extend his awareness even further on his next attempt.

The Sith Lord's senses returned to his actual surroundings, and he was immediately struck with the sense of danger. Bane quickly looked behind him and saw four figures walking through the threshold that lead back inside the stadium. The four noblemen, three men and a woman, walked closer to Bane, and behind them emerged fifteen guards and five other wealthy-looking devils.

"I apologize for interrupting your rest," said Lord Zepar, "but I have some friends who wish to receive your autograph."

The four high-class devils and lone ultimate-class devil behind Zepar pulled out objects they wished to be signed with smiles on their faces. Out in front of Zepar stood Lord Purson, Lord Stolas, and Lady Shax. Shax lowered part of her dress and revealed the upper portion of her left breast, giving Bane a seductive gaze.

"Lady Shax here was wondering if you could give her a...special autograph," Zepar pointed out.

Bane tilted his head slightly. "Are the guards here for autographs as well?"

Zepar replied, "Oh, I brought them along so they can keep the citizens away from us. We often get paparazzi flowing us, especially at public events like the Rating Game."

"Right," said Bane.

The Dark Lord of the Sith stood up and walked around the bench. "But we both know that you're here for another reason."

Bane took a few steps towards them. "There are more of you on the balcony above us, and others at various points throughout this section of the stadium. I can sense roughly two hundred of you."

The devils were stunned. How did he know about the others stationed throughout the stadium?

Zepar shook his head for a moment. "Bravo, Darth Bane. I guess we'll really need to deal with you the hard way."

The devil guards behind put their weapons (that were part spear and part double-headed axe) in the ready position. Darth Bane activated his lightsaber and sprang forward with incredible speed. He thrusted his hook-hilted lightsaber into Stolas' chest, then he pulled it out and swung out to the side, decapitating Shax. Lord Purson caught a glimpse of the red-bladed blur and formed a small magic barrier in front of his face just in time to deflect Bane's diagonal overhead strike. Bane then sent a slash under the magic circle, cutting deep into Purson's chest and abdomen. Zepar now stood behind his own set of magic shields, only now realizing that his fellow lords are dead. Dread came across Lord Zepar's face.

"Open fire!" one of the guards yelled.

The guards started shooting energy bolts from the front tips of their long weapons, while scattering around trying to gain superior firing positions. Bane deflected the bolts with his lightsaber while hacking away at Zepar's shields. After a handful of slashes and thrusts, Bane broke through Zepar's defense on the left side and scored a fatal hit on the backpedalling lord. A glowing wound was sent across Zepar's neck and upper chest, and he went down with an ugly scream. Bane deflected more energy bolts with his lightsaber, and five guards were killed by reflected shots. Bane was surprised at the fact that these bolts were far slower than blaster bolts from his own culture.

Two high-class devils accompanied the sole ultimate-class devil in a forward charge, while the other two high-class devils supported them with ranged attacks far off to the other side. Bane easily dodged the ranged attacks and sent out a burst of Force lightning at the charging trio. The purple lightning forks instantly turned the two high-class devils and two guards behind them to ash, and cooked the ultimate-class devil into an unidentifiable corpse. Bane then speed blitzed the other two high-class devils with his lightsaber, and sent out a Force wave that disintegrated four guards on the right side. He finished off the remaining four guards by charging in and killing them with three swings of his lightsaber.

Bane then looked up and decided to deal with the five guards on the small balcony overhead, they were firing at him from above ever since he started his attack. He threw his lightsaber in a wide arc, reaching them in a slight fraction of a second. Their bodies dropped dead as his lightsaber flew back into his hand. Bane jumped to the balcony meters above his head and landed gracefully, finding more guards waiting for him in the hallway ahead. He slashed his way through three dozen guards while deflecting their energy bolts. Once they were dead, a door opened to Bane's left side, revealing another high-class devil. Bane extended his left hand and Force choked the devil, which lead to the devil's trachea collapsing and the front of his neck being crushed.

Bane stepped over the dead body to find three more high-class devils at different spots along a spiral staircase. The Sith Lord sent lightning that branched out to meet its targets. The electricity tore through their magic barriers and incinerated them on contact. Bane ran up the stairs until he reached the platform leading to the next major stadium level. There, Bane encountered a single ultimate-class devil who already had a shield up to block Bane's lightsaber blow from above. Bane then pulled back his left hand and delivered a punch under the devil's barrier, hitting him square in the gut. His Force augmented strength made the devil stagger backwards, giving Bane the opportunity to sever the arm that generated the magic shield. He then grabbed the devil by the face with his left hand, turned him around, and stabbed him through the back with his lightsaber. Bane dropped the body and busted through the door leading to the level that held by far the most amount of enemies.

The Sith Lord was greeted my dozens upon dozens of guards and a decent amount of high-class devils. Bane evaded and deflected attacks while counter-attacking with his lightsaber and another burst of Force lightning. The dead bodies and piles of ash littered the massive hallway, and again another door opened to reveal more adversaries. Four ultimate-class devils, along with fifty guards halting from having sprinted from the opposite end of the hallway, sent their ranged attacks at Darth Bane. Bane threw up a Force barrier to deflect the incoming attacks, and the four ultimate-class devils quickly found their ranged attacks to be useless against him. The ultimate-class devils then decided to charge at Bane with swords while the guards continued to fire at him. The Sith Lord gathered the Force to become a physical manifestation of the dark side, swirling like a tornado as the four devils were about to strike. He struck with his lightsaber at every conceivable angle, reducing the four ultimate-class devils to bloody ribbons.

Bane deflected another volley from the guards, then he launched his left hand forward to unleash a powerful telekinetic wave that turned the fifty guards to bits. That wave shook the whole stadium and destroyed the reinforced wall and glass at the back end of the hallway, with the debris shooting out towards the crowds of people below. In fact Lord Bael, Lord Vassago, Lord Paimon and Lady Oriax were just about to turn the corner but were suddenly thrown out the window by the wave's backlash. They were launched to the stadium stands below while the few guards that escorted them were killed on impact. A matter of moments later, the four devil lords got back up on their feet, still in pretty good condition. But what they witnessed then, along with the thousands of people screaming in terror, was their enemy levitating in the air high above them.

Bane looked at his lightsaber hilt that was attached to his belt, then at the tens of thousands of mystified people throughout the stadium. He then focused his eyes on his four remaining opponents and gave them a frown.

Paimon was standing right next to Bael. "Lord Bael, he's too powerful! Let's get out of here while we still can."

"No!" Bael shouted and grabbed Paimon by the collar. "This is our only chance to finish him. We have to give it everything we've got!"

The four clan lords generated their magic and sent their full payload at Darth Bane. Lord Bael sent rapid fire streams of his Power of Destruction at the Sith Lord, only to find them immediately halted in mid-air along with all of the other attacks. Bane was holding out his right hand; he used the Force to freeze the incoming energy and magic attacks ten meters in front of him. The attacks became a wall of color and light that grew in size, looking as though an invisible wall was being randomly painted.

"Keep firing!" Bael yelled.

But soon after, the devils realized that their attacks were useless and ineffective. They then stopped attacking and gazed at the mass of frozen magic attacks in awe and bewilderment. Bane crossed his right hand to his left shoulder, then threw his right arm out to his right side, sending all of the magic attacks flying out of the stadium. A part of the clump of magic clipped the top of the stadium screen and the edge of the retracted roof, creating an explosion that sent debris in all directions. Roygun, Bedeze, and their respective peerages retreated from the staging area at the bottom of the screen, wishing they were at their team lounges instead.

Bane then shot a storm of Force lightning from his left hand and sent the dozens of forks down towards Bael and Paimon. The violet lightning struck and killed them instantly, and their bodies spasmed and danced for a moment before falling to the ground. The sight of the bodies with patches of badly burnt skin made Lady Oriax run for her life. As she sprinted away, Bane generated a Force wave that floored her from behind, turning her spine to dust and sending her crashing through layers of walls on the other side of the stadium. Bane then got ahold of Vassago in a Force grip and rose his body in the air while slowly squeezing his internal organs. Bane left Vassago's lungs unaffected so that the man can speak.

"Please Lord Bane, I don't want to die like this!" Vassago pleaded while in pain. "Just let me get my sword out so you can kill me in a duel."

"Why do you wish to die by duel?" Bane asked while applying more pressure inside and around Vassago's body.

Vassago struggled to speak. "More...honor...in...death...by...combat…"

"Honor is for the living," Bane replied. "Dead is dead."

Bane then crushed his opponent, turning Vassago's insides to mush and deforming his exterior shape in a sickening crunch. While still levitating in the air, Bane spotted a dumpster of to his left side below him and floated the corpse over towards it. He then lifted the hood and tossed the body in with the rest of the trash.

Darth Bane looked across the stadium and extended his arms out to his sides. "Are there any more devil sympathizers who wish to confront me?!"

The whole place remained silent, except for the scattered crowds of civilians trying to flee the stadium. Not even the gods or Satans dared to say anything.


	6. Power Theft

**Power Theft**

Darth Bane's self-defense action against the devil attackers rocked the Underworld and every other mythology. While either in person or through the TV screen, the mythological factions saw Bane take down powerful foes easily with single blows. An investigation team also found the other devils that Bane killed and filed their early reports. From the TV footage and investigative findings, they couldn't understand Bane's concussive waves and other telekinetic powers, but they could analyze his lightning. With it being a far more familiar power, analysts from several mythological media sources theorized that Bane's lightning could kill Satan-class beings or gods on contact if they failed to put up any defenses in time. From their perspective, this would put Bane (and likely Zannah) in the 'Top 10 Strongest Beings in the World' list.

Also, nobody could explain what caused the cauterized wounds and amputations on several bodies.

Now, Darth Bane was at Azazel's private research complex with Tannin. Located somewhere in the Grigori territory, the facility was large and high-tech, though Bane found it and everything inside to be primitive for a research facility. When Bane met up with Azazel after the Rating Game, the telepathic seed in Azazel's mind had worn off and Bane had to reapply it before teleporting to the facility. Now looking at the prototype device within a sealed chamber, Bane was ready to make his purchase.

"How much do you want for the device?" Bane asked.

Azazel told Bane his set price.

"Deal," Bane replied.

Tannin shook his head in amazement. "Damn, you've got some deep pockets."

Azazel walked up to the device and lifted it off of its stand. It was a perfect cube two feet tall and wide that had shiny metal edges and a transparent core with special symbols outlined into the material. The fallen angel then brought it over and put it in Bane's hands.

"This container should be able to store any magical property," said Azazel. "If you want to seal a power within it, you should either use some of the magic spell techniques or find your own way to store power."

Bane reflected on the inventor's words. Zannah has done more studying on mythological magic and she is more gifted with Sith sorcery. She likely knows a way to transfer Great Red's power into the device.

The Sith Master then used Azazel's datapad to log into his bank account and transfer the funds. Once the transaction was made, he returned the datapad to Azazel.

The fallen angel pushed a few buttons. "The transaction was a success! And also, make sure you use that container properly, because I can't guarantee what would happen if you mess around with its compartments too much."

"I appreciate the warning," Bane responded.

The Dark Lord turned around and walked towards the magic circle that Tannin had spawned on the floor. Once he stepped in it, Bane and Tannin disappeared and teleported somewhere else.

_Unknown Mountain Range, Underworld_

Darth Zannah and the Vali Team had returned from their trip into the Dimensional Gap about twenty minutes ago. They were all sitting down in tall grass at the bottom of the vast valley that branched out and separated the range into huge mountain clusters. Contrary to their initial expectations, they had quite the hard time finding Great Red within the Dimensional Gap.

"I still don't know why Great Red didn't come out," Vali was disappointed.

Bikou shrugged while laying on his back. "Maybe he wasn't in the mood for leaving the gap. Give the dragon a break."

"No, there has to be something else to it," Vali replied. "A while ago when I last saw him in the gap, he was doing a bunch of crazy stunts and maneuvers, then he got aggravated when he saw me staring at him. Arthur was there with me at the time."

Vali stared out in the distance and continued, "But this time when we finally found him after hours of searching, he was flying in a straight line directly away from us. We fired freakin warning shots at him, and he didn't even look back at us!"

"You're right. Something does seem out of place," said Arthur. "I thought those warning shots would motivate him to hunt us down in or out of the gap."

"Maybe it would be best if Great Red stays in his home," Kuroka mentioned.

Zannah knew why (or at least partially why) Great Red didn't pursue them. She sensed fear coming from the dragon, fear of what she didn't know, but it was afraid of something they had on them. To ensure that their trip was worthwhile, she casted illusions to Great Red's mind to sort of 'scare' him out of the Dimensional Gap. Zannah was surprised that the dragon had enough guts to stay in the gap for over twenty minutes and counting.

"I guess I'll start recharging Caliburn. It will be ready for another trip into the gap in a few hours," Arthur said as the holy sword glowed.

Zannah saw a magic portal open far off in the distance. "That won't be necessary."

Several kilometers away, a one hundred meter long being emerged from the portal, soaring thousands of feet above the ground. Finally, Zannah thought. She figured that Great Red could no longer handle the illusions floating around within the Dimensional Gap.

"I made sure that he'd come out," Zannah said to her allies, who now saw the massive dragon in the distance.

[...]

Darth Bane felt the air rush across his face and body as Tannin followed the valley of the mountain range. They were flying at an altitude of ten thousand feet, still well below the point where oxygen levels in the air start to become an issue. Bane held onto the device with one arm while he used the other arm to hold onto one of Tannin's dorsal spikes. A number of mountain peaks matched or surpassed their flying altitude, making it difficult to see very far off to the sides. But that limitation didn't matter, because according to Bane's senses, all they had to do was turn left at the valley fork to reach Zannah's location.

"Turn left here, Tannin," Bane shouted over the breeze of the air.

"Got it," Tannin shouted in return.

The former dragon king banked left to turn into the next valley. As soon as they turned, they could see a black portal with gold edges slowly shrink as a large creature flew away from it. They were many kilometers away from the thing, but they could both tell what the thing was.

"Great Red," Tannin mumbled.

Tannin encountered Great Red once before and challenged the Red to a fight, but ended up being ignored. This made the former dragon king feel a bit anxious. But being paid a massive salary by Darth Bane gave him more than enough courage to act as Bane's attack vessel.

Bane took his focus off of Great Red and scanned the upcoming landscape below. "Begin your descent here, my apprentice isn't too far away."

Tannin pointed his body down into a moderate descent towards the patches of forest and plains below. After dropping several thousand feet, they spotted Zannah and the Vali Team in the plains near the edge of a forest. Tannin circled around the area once then swooped in for a touchdown. The dragon landed softly, and Bane jumped off to meet with Zannah and her allies.

"Is that our new magic container?" Zannah called out.

Bane halted in front of her a moment later. "Yes, I bought it off of Azazel. He said that the device should be able to store any magical power from any source, though we will have to figure out our own way to transfer power into it."

"I know a way to do it," Zannah replied. "I haven't tested it out yet, but it should work."

"I know this talk is important and all," said Vali, "but I'd suggest you go after the Red before he decides to go somewhere else."

Bane acknowledged the suggestion. He gave the device to Zannah and returned onto Tannin's back.

"Keep the device safe while I deal with the dragon," Bane shouted.

Zannah nodded as her Master and Tannin took to the skies once again.

[...]

Great Red was glad to be free from the weird and frightening illusions tormenting him back in the Dimensional Gap, but there was a new worry building up inside him. He stared out towards a certain direction off to his right side.

"_There's two of them?!"_

He felt the one evil presence back inside the gap, but now sensing two of them made him feel very apprehensive. Great Red couldn't understand what he was feeling, but he could sense that the two dark auras each covered across the entire planet. To him, they seemed to be the dark centers of the universe, and one of them was flying towards him.

Great Red tried diving into the imagination of the approaching dark source, but he couldn't penetrate the being's mind. He then tried linking with the imagination of the being carrying the dark source through the sky, but he couldn't dive into that one either.

"_What the hell is this?"_

Great Red wandered into his own thoughts while he drifted across the sky. He pondered for a bit, then spoke to himself.

"_Why am I feeling so nervous? Nothing in this world should be scaring me, I'm Great Red! Maybe this is another trick like those phantoms back in my home. Yeah, that's it! It's all just another trick!"_

Great Red ended up ignoring his surroundings. Tannin flew over Great Red's head, close enough for Bane to slash across the Red's forehead with his lightsaber. A shallow, glowing scar ran a few meters across his forehead.

"_You piece of shit!"_

Great Red let out an angry roar as he built up speed, chasing his attacker.

[...]

Darth Bane looked back at the massive dragon pursuing them. The Sith Lord estimated that the Red was about the size of a Republic corvette warship. The beastly dragon gained more speed and was catching up to Bane and Tannin.

"You may have rendered his main power useless," Tannin shouted, "but Great Red still has incredibly powerful fire breath."

Bane looked back at the energy building up in Great Red's mouth. "Just keep flying. I'll continue to protect our minds."

Great Red unleashed a mighty stream of fire from his mouth, with Tannin rotating and turning to the left side to avoid the attack. The Red shot more fire breath at his enemies flying around his left flank, which was negated by Bane's Force barrier. The shield cocooned around Bane and Tannin, and the fire that matched the heat of atmospheric entry blasted around the shield's contour. Tannin flew around Great Red's backside close enough for Bane to give a lightsaber slash at the Red's scales on his tail. Great Red unleashed another blast of fire off to his right side, in which Bane withstood with another Force barrier. Now back in front of the Apocalypse Dragon, Tannin dodged the next two fire attacks by twisting and turning.

"He's getting closer!" Tannin warned his rider.

Bane extended his left hand back towards Great Red. A concussive telekinetic blast smashed into the huge dragon, shoving the Red backwards. Great Red lost half a kilometer in altitude before recovering and continuing his flight path, but he was now quite a ways behind his opponents. Now with extra space between him and his target, Bane drew on the power of the dark side to alter the atmosphere around him. The modest overcast in the sky quickly turned into a dark storm that covered every bit of the sky out towards the horizons in all directions. The sinister and nasty storm clouds shot out random lightning bolts that struck wherever. Great Red flinched as two random lightning bolts struck him on the back and left wing. Darth Bane built up his lightning power within himself and the power within the ugly storm for twenty seconds. Then, with a yell, Bane unleashed his charged power at the Red. The violet lightning from his left hand branched out into a few hundred forks and raced towards Great Red, striking and washing throughout his body. A dozen large lightning bolts from the storm clouds struck the Red simultaneously with the lightning that came from Bane's hand.

The Apocalypse Dragon cried out in agony as his entire body was filled with monstrous electric current, the voltage making him shake and spasm while he flew. The electric attack lasted less than ten seconds, but throughout its whole duration the bolts from Bane's hand and the clouds made awful electric sounds while they lived as continuous, unbroken streams of lightning. After the attack stopped, it became evident that Great Red was noticeably injured from the power of the lightning; he wheezed from internal damage and much of his scales were charred, some more than others. Despite his injuries, Great Red flew faster towards Bane and Tannin than he did prior, his eyes staring at Bane with a mixed display of fear and anger.

Continuing their path over and between mountains, Tannin banked hard off to the side so Bane can use his lightsaber up close. Approaching from the Red's right side, Tannin evaded the fire breath attacks and sneaked in over Great Red's mid-back. The Sith Lord reached out with his right hand and gave two quick slashes at the scales, giving superficial cuts. Circling around the left side, Bane threw up a shield as he and Tannin were caught in another wave of fire emitting from Great Red's mouth. As they were halfway around the Red's left flank, the huge dragon decided to swing his left wing forward in an attempt to physically smack his adversaries. Bane predicted the attack beforehand via precognition, which gave him ample time to use the Force to slow and halt the dragon's wing. The Darth then shoved the wing up and back, forcing Great Red to roll and lean upwards, exposing his underside.

"Now Tannin!" Bane shouted.

Tannin flew in and aligned his body parallel with the Red's ventral side. Bane reached above his head with both hands on his lightsaber hilt, cutting into the less durable flesh of Great Red's underbelly. The strong angle of Bane's blade and the weaker underside skin allowed him to cut four times deeper than the scars he made on the dorsal scales. Once Tannin flew past the Red's tail, Bane looked back and saw a single, long gash that went from Great Red's mid-chest all the way down to the upper tail.

"What would you like me to do now?" Tannin called out.

Bane returned his head forward. "Set a flight path for a wide and distant go-around."

Just as they initiated their new flight course, a colossal burst of energy erupted from Great Red. The Red had grown both furious and terrified; he was angry at his opponents and afraid of an imminent defeat. The explosion of magical energy radiated in all directions, creating a tremendous 'boom' sound. The shockwave reached the ground thousands of feet below and immediately began destroying things along the surface of the landscape. The unpredictability of the burst even caught Bane by surprise, throwing up a shield at the last moment to protect himself and Tannin. But the blast still sent them spiraling out of control.

[...]

Zannah and the Vali Team could see the shockwave coming towards them in the distance.

"Oh god, that doesn't look good!" Bikou shouted out.

Vali turned to the holy sword wielder. "Arthur, get us the hell out of here!"

"There's no need for that," said Zannah. "Just stay close to me and do not move."

The four members of the Vali Team huddled close to Zannah as she leaned a leg forward and thrusted both her hands out, creating an impenetrable Force bubble around them. A few moments later, the shockwave washed over them while they witnessed trees snapping and being uprooted and bits of soil and rock flying past them.

[...]

Bane and Tannin tumbled and rolled for a few thousand feet before Tannin regained control. Bane then looked back at his opponent, who was chasing after them yet again. Bane looked across the landscape below and saw the shockwave continuing for miles upon miles in the distance, a lot of it focused within the valley paths. The energy continued to devastate flora in its path, with some of it splashing against mountain sides to damage them as well. Bane now understood why Zannah and the Vali Team chose to lead the Red to this mountain chain.

A frown then came across Darth Bane's face; he compared this battle with a few other situations in his past, noticing the connection that sometimes it is harder to subdue something than it is to kill it. Bane had been living in the ways of survival, 'to kill or be killed', for so long that he had difficulty trying to preserve a life without the outcome of its death. Bane could not afford for Great Red to die.

The Sith Lord looked at the Red for a moment and assessed his options. He could mentally dominate the dragon with the use of telepathy, but he was uncertain if the use of that ability or the victim's mental resilience would affect the leaching process of power theft. Bane had never stolen a sample of a being's essence (especially magical power from this world) in such a manner before...Would the target's mind need to remain naturally intact for the power to be drained as pure and uncorrupted? Also, if Bane continued to shock Great Red with lightning, the dragon could eventually be fried to death at some point. The Sith Master needed something that could strike hard and immediately incapacitate the Red while not killing or corrupting him in the process. Bane reached out with his senses, and after moments of thought he came up with an idea. He realized that his answer laid everywhere beneath him, and he decided to pick the largest object for his new plan.

"Tannin," Bane shouted. "In his current state, could Great Red survive a mountain collapsing on top of him?"

Tannin was momentarily dumbfounded by the rather unorthodox idea. He then looked back at the Red and eyed him from head to tail.

"I think he certainly could," Tannin replied.

Bane looked off to his left side. "Turn seventy degrees to the left, then fly over the mountain that will be in our way."

Tannin banked left and headed towards the mountain that Bane pointed out. As they got closer, Tannin climbed in altitude in order to clear the mountain.

"We just passed the point where oxygen levels in the air start to decrease rapidly," Tannin warned. "I can handle moderate periods of low oxygen, but will you be alright?"

"Don't worry about that, just fly," Bane responded.

The Sith Lord created a Force bubble around Tannin and himself that held an atmosphere with ground-level oxygen levels and air pressure. Tannin noticed the immediate richness of the air around him, and he laughed in amazement at the Dark Lord's skill. They continued to climb until they reached an altitude of twenty thousand feet, clearing the peak of the wide mountain beneath them by about a thousand feet. Bane looked back to take note of Great Red's location, then turned his head back forward so that he can stare at his mountain of choice in the distance.

It was clearly the tallest mountain in the visible region. With a height of 7700 meters (25,262 feet), it dominated the area with a beautiful, white snow cap that reflected the sunlight almost majestically.

"That mountain over there, the tallest one in sight, fly towards it," said Bane. "That's the one I'm going to use on the Red."

"Understood," Tannin responded.

Tannin picked up speed and flew towards the mountain. Great Red increased his speed as well, trying to catch up to his enemies. Once they were halfway to the mountain, Bane gave Tannin another order.

"Drop about seven thousand feet, then fly close to the mountain side when we get there," Bane commanded.

Tannin descended until they were at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. Bane wanted to make sure that most of the mountain collapsed on top of the Red, rather than the dragon only suffering the brunt of the top section. The Sith Lord also let go of the small atmosphere around them as they got close to the side of the mountain. Tannin began to bank hard to the right and flew near the mountain side, just as Great Red was closing in on them. The Red shot fire from his mouth, missing behind Tannin and scorching the rock of the mountain side. Bane looked back and saw Great Red charging up for another fire breath attack. The Dark Lord then reached out behind him, grabbing ahold of the Red with the Force and throwing his hands to the side. Great Red slammed against the mountain side and was pinned by the power of the Force.

"Get us away from the mountain now!" Bane yelled.

As Tannin flew away from the mountain, Bane held his torso twisted around towards Tannin's tail end. Using his left hand to keep Great Red pinned to the mountain side, Bane rose his right arm to bring down the mountain. The whole world seemed to shake as he used the power of the dark side to collapse the mountain off to one side. The side facing Bane began to crack and break apart, sending large chunks of the mountain tumbling down towards the trapped dragon. The Red then plummeted to the ground under lots of rock, crying out in shock and anger as the peak of the mountain brought him down even faster towards the ground. Bane then brought up his left hand in conjunction with his right to bring the rest of the mountain down. An enormous shockwave and a colossal mess was created as Great Red was buried under billions of tons of rock, soil and snow. Now with the entirety of the mountain destroyed, Bane sensed Great Red beneath the rubble, and he was still alive. Tannin flew down towards the mess of rock that was kilometers wide, seeing Zannah and the Vali Team emerge from a magic circle far below. Bane's personal transport descended for thousands of feet until Tannin landed next to Vali and Arthur.

Vali looked at Darth Bane and said, "I've heard many people state their goals for developing their powers to destroy mountains, but I never thought of _dropping _a mountain on someone as a feasible ability."

Zannah walked over and stood next to her Master. "I can still feel Great Red's presence. We should get closer to where he's buried."

Darth Zannah got Vali to transport them all a few kilometers to the southeast to avoid the hassle of climbing and jumping over endless boulders. About 150 meters in front of them, they could feel vibrations of rock and dirt shifting and moving.

"Looks like Great Red's trying to dig himself out," Arthur pointed out.

Half a minute later, Great Red busted his head and long neck through the top layer of rubble and let out a scream of fury. He looked more banged up than before the mountain collapse, but his worse condition didn't stop the Red from continuing to dig himself out, wiggling his upper body through the whole in the rubble.

Darth Zannah had prepared a spell; she used a quick series of hand signals and gestures, along with a short sentence in the Sith tongue, to cast Sith sorcery at the Red. A moment later, Great Red's head, neck and upper wings flopped to the side as he fell into a temporary comatose state.

"I'm surprised that you didn't use telepathy to subdue the Red," Zannah said to Bane.

The Dark Lord shook his head, realizing that he could have saved extra time. But that's no big deal, because they are still getting what they want anyways.

"I didn't know if that ability would have affected the power leaching process," Bane replied.

Zannah then commenced the power leaching ritual. Her arms waved around in slow and methodical arm paths while creating subtle hand gestures. While she did that, Zannah spoke a number of sentences and independent words in the Sith language, creating a large column of purple and black clouds that latched onto Great Red and pointed towards Zannah. The whole process creeped out Tannin and the Vali Team.

Taking a pause, she then picked up the device at her feet and held it out in front of her. The column of smoky dark side energy then attached to the device, then the sorcery began draining Great Red's power. Once the sorcery collected a small sample of the dragon's power, Zannah put the device back down at her feet, but the column of dark side energy still remained. She stared at the device that now contained a reddish-white ball of magical energy inside its transparent core.

"I have the sample that we need," Zannah said to the Vali Team, "but if this sample ends up being of insufficient quantity for our needs, could we come back another time to collect some more?"

"In all honesty, I don't think there will be another time," said Arthur. "Once we send Great Red back into the Dimensional Gap, he may be staying there for good. From what you told me earlier, you found out that he was in fact afraid of you back in the gap, and then of Bane when he emerged here. The Red was flying away from you in the gap merely by you being there, this crushing defeat may influence him to stay in his home and never come back out."

Arthur looked at the comatose dragon and added, "Not only that, but the blast that Great Red unleashed would likely have alerted people within its vicinity by now. Underworld forces would probably have this area locked down to investigate what happened, and dealing with Great Red again in another location could be too dangerous for nearby civilizations. That's if he ever came out of the Dimensional Gap again."

"If that's the case, then I'll have to drain all of his magical power right now," Zannah stated.

"All of it? That would probably kill the Red!" Bikou exclaimed.

Tannin continued off of Bikou's point. "If you kill Great Red, then you'll likely have to deal with all the other mythologies. I don't know what they will do in response to this incident, if anything, but if they do, then don't be surprised if they try to come after you and hunt you down. Hell, a few factions might even declare war on you out of fear."

"I have a different opinion on that," said Kuroka. "I think that if you kill the Red, everyone will be too afraid to do anything in response. They probably wouldn't even have the guts to come near you. I bet it would be months before someone decides to do something directed at you two."

Vali looked at the Sith Lords. "I don't really care about what the mythologies would do, nor do I care if Great Red lives or not. It's your call."

Bane fixed his eyes on Zannah. "Do it. We need to get back to Ambria at all costs."

"I agree," Zannah replied to Bane.

Darth Zannah continued the ritual. More and more energy filled into the device, then the dark side energy automatically stopped draining upon Great Red's depletion of magic. The dragon was now a lifeless corpse, a husk sucked dry. The looks of his dead body made it seem like he had died years ago. The device now contained all of Great Red's power, its core glowing extremely bright. It was a challenge to look at it directly.

"So that's that," Bikou said softly. "Great Red is no more."

After a moment of silence, Vali said, "I guess you two are now the most powerful beings in the world."

The White Dragon Emperor created a magic circle that teleported all of them back to the Sith Lords' castle, where the Darths can now use their time to study and test Great Red's power for their own purposes.


	7. Infiltration

**Infiltration**

Sirzechs and Odin stared at Great Red's lifeless husk stuck in the top layer of the mountain rubble. The two faction leaders each arrived with their own task force over six hours after Bane, Zannah, Tannin and the Vali Team left the site. Due to being in the middle of a private meeting with Zeus and Hades earlier, they couldn't come to the mountain range right away when word got around that a thunderous sound could be heard rolling across the mountain chain. In fact, the blast that Great Red unleashed devastated all of the chain's valleys and many mountain sides, effectively destroying that part of the Underworld.

The joint investigation unit of devils and Asgardians scanned the area for evidence of who or what caused the Red's death. The colossal mess of a rubble pile never gave much clues, nor did the rest of the landscape that was now a wasteland (except for the parts that weren't facing towards any valleys). The Satan and the Allfather continued to gaze at the dead dragon.

"Who could have done this?" Odin asked.

Sirzechs had a gut feeling for that question. "Bane...Zannah...It must have been them."

"That wouldn't surprise me," said Odin, "but we have no proof to show that they killed the Red."

Sirzechs thought of something. "I believe there could have been more people involved. Bane and Zannah don't use magical teleportation like we do, so someone must have brought them here."

Odin scratched his long beard. "Well, I think Tannin is a possible suspect. Tannin brought Bane to the Rating Game and picked him up after his killing spree, so he probably brought the man here as well. He's probably being paid to be Bane's transport."

"I forgot about Tannin! I will certainly question him when I get the chance," said Sirzechs.

"Or how about you question me instead," a voice called out from behind.

Sirzechs and Odin turned around to find Vali walking across the floor of boulders. The young silver-haired man arrived at the scene alone.

"Vali? What are you doing here?" Sirzechs asked.

"I was curious to see who the first responders to show up here would be," Vali replied. "And I'm surprised to see you here as well, old man."

Odin gave a smirk and said halfheartedly, "A warm welcome to you as well."

Sirzechs crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Something tells me you know what happened here."

"No kidding," Vali remarked, "I watched the whole fight from start to finish. And I must say, I learned a lot from that battle; Bane used some brilliant tactics that no one else would have ever thought of."

"So Darth Bane killed the Red?" asked the Satan.

Vali replied, "Not exactly. Bane incapacitated Great Red while Zannah used her weird Darth powers to actually do the killing."

"Tell me how you were involved in this," Sirzechs demanded.

"I wasn't involved in anything other than acting as a bystander for pretty much the whole time. Tannin had a lot of fun flying Bane around on his back while the man attacked the Red," Vali explained.

"So Tannin was involved as well…" Sirzechs said to himself.

Vali thought for a moment. "One question though: why does Great Red's death matter that much to you guys? He was just a powerful recluse who spent all of his time in the Dimensional Gap, not like he was much of a threat to anyone or anything."

"Boy, are you stupid?" Odin snapped. "It's not so much his death that we care about, but more so the ones who killed him. You don't realize how much concern this is going to bring to the other mythologies."

"Is that so?" Vali smiled in return. "Well if all the gods come together and get into heated arguments or start throwing tantrums at each other, let me know, I might come and watch."

Vali took a few steps back and generated a magic circle under his feet. He then gave a quick salute goodbye and teleported away.

"That little brat gets on my damn nerves," Odin said under his breath.

After a few moments of silence, Sirzechs asked, "So what now?"

"Well Sirzechs, I think we should go to the other mythologies and tell them exactly what happened. No lies or half-truths," Odin advised. "Even if we tried to cover this up, someone will eventually find out that Great Red is missing and the factions may start pointing their fingers at each other, trying to find someone to blame."

"You make a good point," Sirzechs acknowledged. "But this isn't going to rest well on the stomach for anyone."

Sirzechs and Odin glanced over at Great Red's body, still marveled at how the Darths could have killed such a powerful being.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Over the course of two months, Darths Bane and Zannah put a lot of time and effort into studying Great Red's magical power and developing ways to use it for their needs. While going back to Gerald's library several times to collect more texts, they were able to crack the code of the Red's power through the use of meditation and Sith sorcery. They started off slow, using the Force to intertwine with the Red's magical power, creating small objects out of thin air like bottles and shoes. With more practice, Bane and Zannah were able to create larger objects and a greater number of them each time. Now with the Red's power and their own power in the dark side, they mused to be able to spawn entire cities or even countries worth of stuff through the use of their imagination, dreams, and meditation.

Bane and Zannah tried using their imagination to create a small vortex or wormhole that could transport them back to Ambria, but their efforts failed. Each attempt felt like a reactor powering up then blowing a circuit soon after. Their powers in the dark side and Great Red's power simply weren't enough to create a wormhole leading to another galaxy, or possibly another universe. With this, the Darths set out to find more sources of magical power that could help them, starting with finding the Three Holy Relics. Zannah went to search for the Sephiroth Graal and Incinerate Anthem, while Bane was tasked to retrieve the True Longinus. Bane found out from a hired group of informants that the True Longinus was owned by a human named Cao Cao, who despises creatures like devils, fallen angels, and dragons, and is obsessed with testing human capabilities against supernatural beings. Since he is also a human himself, Bane wondered if he could simply convince Cao Cao to hand over his Sacred Gear/Holy Relic, and perhaps make the man an agent under his command. With that plan in mind, Bane hired a messenger to track down Cao Cao and give him an invitation to come to the Sith Sanctum.

Darth Bane was now in his large meditation chamber on the second highest floor of his castle. Darth Zannah was gone in search for the other two Holy Relics, so Bane decided to spend his time sending his awareness out into the cosmos for a third time. Two months ago, he scanned beyond the edges of this galaxy, but now he wanted to see if it was possible to scan other nearby galaxies. It wasn't as much of an impossible feat than what he initially believed, but it didn't come without tremendous effort. Using all of his dark side power, Bane was able to sense and scan the closest five galaxies for signs of the Republic or Ambria. But he couldn't sense any of them. Another failure.

Bane returned his senses back to his body and began breathing rapidly; his casual clothing was drenched in sweat and he felt exhausted. He wiped away the sweat streaming down his face and noticed that his senses haven't fully returned back to him yet, still part-wandering millions of light years away. Bane remained cross legged on the floor, feeling disappointed. His home galaxy is either an imperceivable distance away at the opposite end of this universe, or in another universe entirely.

Just as his senses returned to him, the three windows of his meditation chamber exploded. Several figures landed on the floor at the far end of the room behind Bane, and at that moment time seemed to have stopped from Bane's perspective. The Sith Lord looked back and saw the frozen figures, recognizing only one of them from a book he recently read. The figures were Sun Wukong, Guan Yu, Nezha, Susanoo, Hephaestus, Varuna, Ganesha, Aten, and ten Hindu high-priests. Although the time halt only lasted for a moment, it was all that Bane needed for him to assess the situation and gather the information in his surrounding environment.

A magic attack from one of the gods went hurtling towards Darth Bane, in which the Sith Lord dodged in response. Bane was now at the right side of the room, diagonal to his original spot that was now a large gaping hole in the stone floor. The eighteen intruders charged towards Bane to get within melee range of the Dark Lord, but Bane had a nasty surprise in store for them. Though exhausted, Bane focused his Force reserves to create a death field of pure dark side energy around himself. The spherical field quickly spread outward to a diameter of twenty meters, consuming the life essences of five gods and three high-priests. The eight individuals instantly withered away and were now lifeless husks on the floor of the meditation room. The death field ability was a taxing power in and of itself, but the life energies from the attackers offsetted its drawbacks. Bane felt a huge surge of energy rush through his body, taking away all of the exhaustion from spawning the death field and scanning the universe. The essences from the fallen intruders gave Bane the energy to sustain the field and make it grow in size.

The death field expanded further towards Varuna and Aten who were both mesmerized by the empty shells of their teammates, knowing that they were alive just a moment or two ago. They put up a series of magic barriers believing that the shields would hold back the field, but Varuna and Aten were greatly mistaken. The field flowed around the barriers and phased through them like they didn't even exist, reaching the two gods and draining them both in an instant. Susanoo and the remaining Hindu priests made a run for their lives, but the death field swiftly consumed them as it expanded towards the shattered windows. The last surviving high-priest was just about to climb over a window sill when the death field surrounded him and took his life.

A few moments later, Bane dispelled the field and looked around at the massacre he caused. Bodies were scattered across the floor, and on one of the corpses Bane noticed a book hanging out one of the coat pockets. The Dark Lord walked over to the dead Hindu god and retrieved the novel, curious to see what was inside. As he glanced through the first few pages, the doors of his chamber swung open abruptly, then entered four mansion guards and the guard captain. The five devils briefly looked over the bodies then spotted their Master at the other end of the room.

"Milord, thank goodness you're alright!" exclaimed the captain.

The four guards scanned the room top to bottom while the captain walked towards Bane.

The captain continued, "We heard glass shatter from the courtyard, so we rushed up here to see what was going on."

One of the guards kneeled down next to a body and turned it over. "Sun Wukong…?"

The guards turned around when they heard a choking sound coming from the captain, who was now floating in the air and being Force choked by Darth Bane.

"You disappoint me, captain," Bane scowled. "How did you let these intruders sneak by the outer perimeter?"

The captain struggled to speak. "I don't know...we had our full...patrol complement on...duty as normal."

Bane yelled, "Then double the number of patrol squads and scan the entire castle for weak spots! Do you realize that I could have been killed by this attack?"

It was true. Bane could have been killed, or at least gravely injured, if he didn't finish his exhausting meditation in time. Thankfully he returned his awareness and senses from the cosmos back to his immediate surroundings, or else the outcome could have been fatal for him.

"I assure you that...I won't make the same...mistake again!" the captain mumbled while choking.

"Take a good look at the bodies around you," Bane suggested.

The guard captain darted his eyes around the room, now fully understanding the scope of Bane's counter-attack. Each of the corpses looked to have been aged a thousand years, their skin withered and shrunken and pulled tight across the bones. They resembled mummies.

"The next time you let another attack like this happen again," Bane warned, "you will end up like these corpses."

With his final word spoken, Bane threw the captain towards the guards. The senior-ranked devil slammed into the floor and skidded a few meters, coughing and groaning in pain.

"You are all dismissed," Bane said loudly.

The guards hustled out of the chamber, dragging the injured captain with them by his armpits. Once they shut the doors, Bane turned his attention back to the Hindu novel in his right hand. While glancing through the book, each information section had pages written in the Hindu language (which Bane did not understand), with the same information also written in the language that Bane can read. The Sith Lord continued flipping through pages, reading incomprehensible words followed by their comprehensible counterpart. Once he reached the last page, Bane found all of the book's information to be useless and was ready to throw it away. However, in a pouch glued to the inside of the back cover was a folded sheet of paper, in which Bane pulled out and unfolded. He flipped the sheet over when immediately reading the unknown language. Now seeing the same journal entry in a format he can understand, Bane looked at the hand-drawn pictures of a creature that looked so much like the orbalisks that he wore on his body over ten years ago. He then began reading the hand-written journal:

_Keetak_

_I, Brahma, am a fanatic when it comes to studying wildlife, especially the ecology of my own realm. I am fascinated by all living wonders of creation, from the smallest bacteria to the largest ecosystem. But there is one creature that has baffled me for ages, and I can never unravel its underlying evolution. This critter is called Keetak._

_It is a parasite of insectoid body structure and behavior. I came up with its name 'Keetak' by taking parts from the two Hindi words _ghaatak keet_, meaning 'lethal insect'. It is, without one word of a lie, lethal to virtually all life forms. The Keetak live in the Swamplands of my realm, and they feed off of many creatures in their habitat. Uniquely, they feed off of the radiant heat energy of living beings, and that is their only known source of 'food'. As such, they love latching themselves onto warm-blooded animals and certain types of trees. Keetak always look for hosts in at least packs of three or four, and they sometimes latch onto a host in the dozens. _

_They often avoid cold-blooded creatures and small life forms such as rodents and birds, presumably because they don't give off enough heat and are too small to feed a pack of Keetak. The parasites also grow and multiply rapidly across the surface of an animal or tree. Within a matter of weeks, a handful of Keetak could multiply enough to completely envelop a large animal, suffocating it to death or at the very least rendering the creature immobile. When a huge group of Keetak attaches to a living being, they can immediately reshape themselves and shed parts of their body to give enough room for their following brethren. This is very dangerous for the prey, because once Keetak attach to their hosts with their hundreds of tiny teeth, it is impossible to pull or shake them off. _

_My scientists and I brought in several infected animals to study the physiological effects of Keetak on their bodies. Interestingly, they provided a symbiotic relationship with the host. Blood tests showed that the Keetak pumped chemicals into the bloodstream that encouraged more movement, thus generating more body heat. The host would experience enhanced speed, endurance, and aggression as the chemicals reacted with the brain and muscles. The chemicals also provided a healing factor, eradicating current illnesses or infections and healing injuries in virtually an instant. Knife cuts would heal as fast as they were formed._

_Despite these symbiotic benefits, the Keetak still remained as extreme dangers for their hosts. We tried removing the parasites from the animal subjects through surgical means, but their provided healing factor made that impossible. With more study, my scientists discovered a weakness to their physiology: freezing temperatures. We froze their exteriors with loads of ice for a few hours, and they fell off one by one dead. Hooray, we found a cure! Not really…_

_Turns out that about 35-40 minutes after being subjected to icing procedures, the Keetak would inject deadly toxins into the bloodstream in reaction to the cold, killing the host in a matter of hours. The poison was so potent that all of our anti-poison medicines were broken down on a molecular level when exposed to it within the blood. But one may ask why we didn't just break through their shells to kill them that way. The problem with that, again, comes down to the poisons they release before dying and the nature of their shells._

_The exterior shells of Keetak are impenetrable and indestructible, at least to magical properties. We tried everything: magic attacks, Sacred Gears, spears, swords...nothing could penetrate the shell, not even my own power! I even tried punching the shells with my bare fists, which came to no effect. One of my top researchers got so frustrated that he grabbed a random metal pipe and started bashing the Keetak, which actually did some damage for once. The shells of the Keetak are immune to all attacks that contain a magical property; one would be better off throwing rocks at it or getting a human to punch it. _

_With all of the prior details listed, I decided to make the Swamplands a restricted zone off limits to everyone and everything, except for authorized task forces. I love all life that exists, but this parasite is simply too dangerous for any of my Hindu people to come across. Hopefully it stays that way._

_-Brahma the Creator_

Bane was very interested in what he just read. Orbalisk-like creatures that could protect him from all magic attacks? He thinks this could be a useful asset until he can get back to Ambria, especially after the recent assassination attempt on him. He could remove them with the power of the Force via cryokinesis while dealing with the poison the Keetak releases when they begin to die, but he could not be too certain yet. Bane must test it out with one Keetak first to see if it would be worth it to encase himself with the parasite. In the meantime, he must also create a special helmet, gloves and boots just like he did for the orbalisks.

Darth Bane stepped over the intruders' bodies as he approached the chamber doors, opening them and exiting the room. He went down to the main floor to check the storage rooms to see if he had the necessary resources to create the special armor pieces. While walking down the hallway, a buzzing sound came from the intercom speaker on the wall. Bane stopped and answered the call.

"Lord Bane," a guard said through the speaker, "a man named Cao Cao is here to see you. Should we let him in?"

"Yes," Bane replied, "I will meet him in the courtyard."

_Tepes Castle, Earth_

Darth Zannah snuck through the bushes that faced the back end of the Tepes mansion. The Tepes faction is a male-dominated vampire faction that lives in the darkness of the human world, contrary to devils who live in the Underworld. Zannah was here to steal the power of the Sephiroth Graal from a female vampire/human hybrid named Valerie Tepes. The Sith Lord had already stolen the power of the Incinerate Anthem with the help of a rogue fallen angel agent named Alexa Osworth, and the same agent was helping her retrieve the Graal as well. The female fallen angel was hired by Zannah as a guide, stealth expert, and supply carrier. Alexa had two exact copies of the prototype device (created from the Sith Lords' imagination experiments) in her large duffle bag, one containing the power of Incinerate Anthem, and the other to be used to store the Graal.

Zannah stopped and looked back at Alexa. "So this is the Tepes mansion?"

"Yeah," Alexa replied. "There's a back entrance through a hatch in the back courtyard. It should be pretty easy to get in."

Zannah stared at the few patrol squads in the courtyard and the details of the yard itself.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this place," Zannah remarked.

The buxom fallen angel responded, "I've already broken into this place once before, and luckily I was able to steal a copy of the estate's blueprints. I have no clue if they changed anything around since my last appearance here, but I guess we'll just have to find out."

Zannah and Alexa went out in the open and snuck up to the short pine trees that went along the outer perimeter of the courtyard. It was night time, and ironically vampires can see better in the night than during the day. Zannah could tell from the closest guard's eyes that he seemed to be more alert and aware of his surroundings despite it being almost pitch black outside. Hiding behind a close group of trees, Zannah and Alexa prepared to take the guards out.

Zannah emerged out around the corner of the last tree in the row, igniting her double-bladed lightsaber and cutting down the two closest guards to her. They suffered instantly fatal slashes across their backs, and fell to the ground without alerting anyone else. Alexa appeared around the opposite corner of the tree row, spawning a light spear that she threw at a guard's chest, piercing through his torso. Zannah then threw her lightsaber, spinning horizontally towards two more guards in an oval shaped flight path. While the lightsaber bisected them at the hips, Zannah used the Force to mind trick the three guards on the top balcony who now noticed their comrades getting slaughtered. The Sith Lord dominated their minds, suggesting them to fire at each other. Alexa followed up with throwing some more light spears at disoriented and confused vampires at the west end of the yard. Darth Zannah then turned her left wrist, twisting a guard's head around a full 180 degrees, pulverizing his upper spine. Zannah killed a few more guards with her lightsaber; now the courtyard was clear.

Alexa ran back towards Zannah and showed her the secret hatch inside a group of pine trees.

"I'll just need to rewire a few circuits so we can bypass the hatch lock," Alexa said while getting a gadget from her belt.

"There's no need for that," Zannah replied.

She used the Force to crush the metal lid, tearing it off of its reinforced joints and putting it down next to a tree to her right side.

"How are you able to do that?" Alexa asked. "That shouldn't even be possible!"

"Anything's possible when you have the power of the dark side flowing through you," Zannah responded.

They both jumped into the hatch opening, landing on the tunnel floor five meters below and ignoring the ladder that they could have used to climb down. They jogged underground for two hundred feet until they reached a reinforced door with a code panel. Sensing no one nearby, Zannah used her Force augmented strength to send the thick metal door flying off its hinges with a kick. Alexa shook her head, surprised at the amount of strength Zannah has.

"Follow me this way," said Alexa, "I know the quickest way to Valerie's room."

Zannah followed the agent's lead up staircases, down hallways and around corners until they reached the door of Valerie's room on the top floor. The Dark Lord could sense a person inside, suspecting it was Valerie. Alexa opened the door, and at the opposite end of the room was a young woman sitting on her bed with her knees pressed to her chest. Valerie was looking out the window, then was momentarily startled when she heard the saw the two strangers enter her room. Unexpectedly, a slight smile came across her face.

"Hello," Valerie said to the intruders. "Would you like to play a game with me?"

Valerie leaned to the far side of her large bed, pulling out a chess board and chess pieces. Zannah and Alexa were baffled by the woman's calm and somewhat emotionless demeanor, and they tried not to show anything suspicious through their body language or on their faces. Valerie seems to be a naive and sheltered person who lacks some common sense.

Alexa tried to play along with the odd situation. "Sure, I'll play a game with you."

As soon as Alexa sat down on Valerie's bed, Zannah could sense someone approaching the door behind her. A female guard lieutenant walked in looking down at a clipboard.

"Valerie, I need to ask you someth- Wha.. what the hell are you two doing in here?!" said the lieutenant.

Zannah did a brief series of signs and patterns with her fingers at the vampire officer. Immediately, the lieutenant waved around wildly at imaginary demons circling around her in her mind. Screaming in terror, she fell to the floor squirming and flailing like a maniac, making Alexa retreat to the back of the room. The agent put her hand over her mouth at the startling sight of the crazed lieutenant. Valerie just stared motionlessly, paralyzed in fear.

Zannah's spell of madness went a step further; the lieutenant let out an awful howl, sounding as though she was being eaten alive, while gouging her own eyes out. Soon after, she then began having a seizure and foaming at the mouth. The officer then stopped moving, her body effectively comatose while her mind was being destroyed.

Zannah looked at the traumatized woman sitting on her bed. "Sorry, I don't have time to play games with you."

She used her sorcery to render Valerie unconscious just like she did to Great Red a few months ago.

"Pass me the empty device," Zannah ordered Alexa.

The fallen angel stiffly reached into the duffle bag on the floor and retrieved the unused power container. She then gave it to Zannah with trembling hands. The Darth went through the ritual process of removing magical power from a target, filling the device with a luminous glow. Valerie's body became more and more withered as her Holy Relic power was drained from her system. With her Sacred Gear now entirely stored within the device, the dark side energy dissipated from Valerie's dead body.

"Put this back in, we need to get moving," Zannah gave the device to the agent.

Alexa did her best to act normally, but her pale face, cold sweat and anxiety made that virtually impossible. Those two horrible sorcery acts were the most sinister things she had ever witnessed in her life, and things she never thought was possible. Alexa didn't see Zannah steal the power of Incinerate Anthem because she was waiting outside at that time, so witnessing the creepy ritual made her fear even worse.

The two intruders made their way back towards the secret entrance in the same path that they came, hiding from a few servants in the hallways that luckily didn't hear the lieutenant's screams. They then jogged through the underground tunnel and climbed out of the hatch, now back in the rear courtyard. They teleported away in Alexa's magic circle once they ran back to their rally point inside the pine tree forest.

_Sith Sanctum, Underworld_

Cao Cao lowered to his knees and bowed down at Bane's feet. "Almighty God of Power, it is an honor for me to finally meet you in person."

"God of Power?" Bane questioned. "That's the first time I've been called that."

Cao Cao looked up at Bane, leaning slightly against his Holy Spear. "Of course, Lord Bane, you are the only one in this world worthy of that title. The Hero Faction and I have heard all of the stories and rumors about you, even your and Darth Zannah's legendary feat of killing Great Red. Two humans to be born with abilities that function outside of the magical systems of the mythologies is otherworldly and mystical in its own right. That is why the Hero Faction and I have decided to call you two, respectively, the God and Goddess of Power. You are Christ remade."

"You flatter me," Bane replied.

The Dark Lord stared at the spear in the man's right hand. "Is that the True Longinus?"

"Yes," Cao Cao replied, putting the spear across his palms. "It is the most powerful Sacred Gear in existence. This Holy Spear has helped me through thick and thin, saving my life in many situations."

Bane then said, "Come inside. My apprentice will be joining us anytime soon."

Darth Bane led his guest inside his mansion, walking down the hallways. Cao Cao studied the castle as he followed his idol.

"I heard a few times that Sigfield was working for you," Cao Cao mentioned. "Is he still around?"

"I ordered him to return back to his home in Dundee," Bane replied. "For now, I no longer require his services."

They continued down halls and up flights of stairs until they reached Bane's meditation chamber. The strike team's bodies were still there scattered across the floor.

Cao Cao looked around at the massacre in amazement. "What in the world happened here?"

"A task force of gods and priests attacked me not too long ago while I had just finished an exhausting meditation session. Could you guess at anyone in particular who could have organized this plot to kill me?" Bane asked.

Cao Cao shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure, but if I had to guess, then maybe Indra or Hades. Possibly even one of the Trimurti gods like Vishnu."

Bane nodded, taking note of the possibilities. A few moments later, Zannah walked into the room with the boxes containing the powers of the Sephiroth Graal and Incinerate Anthem.

"Was this a meeting gone wrong, Bane?" Zannah asked about the corpses.

Bane chuckled. "I was attacked by a bold group of gods. Our forces failed to detect them beforehand."

Zannah felt frustrated. She may go scold the guards herself.

Cao Cao dropped to a knee. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my goddess."

"Who's the worshipper?" Zannah asked.

"Cao Cao," Bane replied. "He's the owner of the True Longinus, the last Holy Relic that we need to continue our testing."

Zannah studied the spear from top to bottom. "Great. That saves me from doing another ritual."

Bane walked towards the Sacred Gear wielder. "For our continued testing, we will need to borrow your longinus. In the meantime, one of our servants will bring you to a guest room and provide you with complimentary service. I will come to your room when our studies are done."

Cao Cao gave Bane his spear. "Okay, sounds good."


	8. Personal Safeguard

**Personal Safeguard**

Cao Cao grabbed another piece of food from his fruit bowl that was next to him on his bed. He had spent the whole day relaxing in his guest room watching the news and sleeping. He hardly ever had the luxury of taking days off to just do absolutely nothing, especially when the Hero Faction needs his attention and leadership most of the time. A part of him wished to just stay here and chill for the next few weeks.

Just as Cao Cao closed his eyes, a knock on the door caught his attention. He got up, gave a quick stretch, then answered the door. Darth Bane was standing at the door frame with the True Longinus in his left hand.

"Good day, Lord Bane," Cao Cao said while motioning for the Sith Lord to come inside.

Bane walked into the room and pulled out a chair from the small dining table in the corner, and Cao Cao sat back down on his bed.

"Zannah and I have completed our studying for the day," Bane mentioned. "Your spear and the other Holy Relics increased the power of our desired ritual experiment, but they weren't enough to initiate a successful attempt. We may need to add a lot more power to our ritual."

"What are you guys trying to do exactly?" Cao Cao asked.

"We are trying to open a portal leading back to the planet of Ambria," Bane explained. "With Great Red's power, we can make that a reality, but the dragon's energy and our own abilities aren't powerful enough to spawn the gateway. That is why we need more sources of power to make that happen."

"How did you two end up in the Underworld in the first place?" Cao Cao questioned.

Bane looked down at the floor. "That is a question that may never be answered...not at this point in time at least. But I must first get back to Ambria, then maybe ponder on your question another day."

Bane handed the True Longinus back to Cao Cao. "In the meantime, I have a task for you in one week's time."

"Really? What does that entail?" said Cao Cao.

"I will tell you when the time comes," Bane responded. "In one week from today, meet me in the front lobby of this estate. Bring a few members of the Hero Faction along with you."

ONE WEEK LATER

Darth Bane waited in the front lobby, having just received a call from one of the perimeter guards saying that Cao Cao is here. Bane and Zannah spent a week studying more about mythological history, Sacred Gears and magic weapons, trying to figure out what sources of power they need to steal and how many more sources they need. It was an extremely difficult question to answer, but for now Darth Zannah set off to find the Regulus Nemea and Absolute Demise. Bane is also aware that the Hero Faction also owns the Annihilation Maker and Dimension Lost, which is why he wants them to work for him. If he and Zannah do end up needing those two longinus along with the Holy Spear, Bane can simply ask to borrow them (or steal them if needed).

The task Bane has for Cao Cao and his friends will act as a test for their reliability and loyalty to him and Zannah. The spear wielder said that his faction reveres the Sith Lords as gods, _their _gods, and Bane wants to see how much of that claim is true. He wants to know if he can use that factor to his own benefit.

Cao Cao, Georg, Leonardo, and Jeanne walked through the front doors and passed through an archway to meet with their dubbed God of Power. Bane watched as the four of them approached and stopped roughly four meters away.

"Lord Bane," said Cao Cao, "meet my fellow Hero Faction members: Georg, Jeanne, and Leonardo."

The three newcomers descended to their knees and bowed down to their human god.

"It is an honor to be in your presence, milord," Georg said on behalf of himself and the other two.

Bane smiled and said, "Now that we are all here, I will explain your task."

Bane rose to his feet and picked up the large backpack sitting on the floor next to his couch. Inside the bag was his special helmet, gloves and boots, along with a sleek utility belt, black pants, a long black butt cape, and a black high-collared cape. The Sith Master had also spent the whole week secretly gathering resources to make the special armor pieces while also constructing them in private. Currently, Bane had removed his regular outfit a few hours ago and opted to wear a simple black long-sleeve shirt and dark gray pants. The Dark Lord stared at the humans before him.

"There is a creature in the Hindu realm called Keetak, a parasite with a shell that is indestructible to magic attacks. I plan on making a suit of armor out of it. You will come along with me as my escorts, and you will help me create the armor and test its properties," Bane stated.

They were all thrown off by the radical idea.

"Let me get this straight," said Georg, "you want to make a suit of armor out of a _parasite_?"

Leonardo also spoke up. "Milord, that sounds like a dangerous task. Are you sure you can handle such a thing?"

"That is my goal, and I am prepared in all aspects to don the armor," Bane reassured. "In further detail, a spy of mine will teleport us to the Hindu realm in a secret spot near the Mahar-loka, where we will then travel by foot to the Swamplands."

Cao Cao made an objection. "Actually, you should let me teleport us to the Hindu realm instead. I know a way to get into that realm in a place much closer to the Swamplands. It will shorten our journey down to just a few hours in total."

Bane rose an eyebrow. "If you do in fact know a closer spot, then lead the way."

_Classified location, Hindu realm_

Bane felt the warm breeze of the Hindu realm brush across his face as he and his escorts materialized at their destination. Cao Cao dispelled the magic circle generated from the True Longinus, then he took a deep breath.

"Man, it has been a long time since I've felt the humidity of this place," expressed Cao Cao.

"It sure is warm here," Jeanne mentioned.

"Just wait until you get to the Swamplands," Cao Cao replied. "Indra once told me that the swamps is the hottest district of the realm."

Darth Bane looked at a map of the Hindu realm, taking note of their current location and their intended destination.

"Follow me this way," Bane ordered. "We need to walk in this direction for a few hours."

They walked for a few miles before coming across a magical wall that separated them from the Swamplands on the opposite side. There was some sort of energy post every two hundred feet that linked with the other posts to project a blue magical barrier fifteen meters high. The magic fence went on for kilometers in both directions.

"Looks like they have put quite the investment in barring off the Swamplands," Cao Cao mentioned.

Georg stepped forward. "Let me handle this."

Many magic circles of various sizes appeared near the blue wall. Georg used devil, fallen angel and Norse magic to try and bypass the barrier in front of them. Some of the magic circles rotated while others shifted around in patterns as he did his work, and the now shimmering barrier showed that his magic was working.

"Almost got it," Georg assured.

Moments later, the two hundred foot long barrier section in front of them disappeared while all of the other sections remained active.

"Good work, Georg," Cao Cao congratulated as he walked with the others through the opening.

Two hours had gone by and they were quite a ways inside the Swamplands, but they still haven't come across the swamps in the region's core. Bane and his escorts trekked through grass and plants while weaving in and out around trees.

"Are we almost there? My legs are getting a bit tired," Leonardo complained.

"It's just a little further," Georg replied.

Bane continued walking with everlasting vigor in each stride, he could walk for weeks before exhaustion set in. Throughout the entire journey, Bane never said a single word, which made his allies feel kind of uncomfortable. They of course look up to Bane as an undeniable beacon of strength and might, but his overwhelmingly aloof and cold demeanor was quite strange compared to even some of the world's greatest misfits.

Cao Cao finally spoke up. "So, Lord Bane, what do you plan on doing once you get back to this planet of yours?"

Bane replied, "I will probably be fighting my apprentice for the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith."

Jeanne was shocked. "Whoa, whoa...fighting your apprentice? You mean Darth Zannah?"

"That is correct," the Sith Master responded.

"Why would you be fighting against Zannah?" Georg questioned.

After a moment, Bane replied, "Because that is how our Sith Order works. Before ending up in the Underworld, Zannah challenged me to a fight to the death with the goal of claiming the title of Sith Master. She is following my instituted Rule of Two, where one Master trains one apprentice, and the student one day challenging the Master for ultimate supremacy over the Order."

Bane's allies her filled with new questions.

"So if you and Zannah fight to the death," said Leonardo, "do all of the other masters and apprentices follow that same practice as well?"

"You misunderstand me," Bane replied. "There are no other masters or students, there are only two of us in existence."

Cao Cao then said, "Damn. Were there more of you guys at one point?"

"Yes," Bane answered, "there used to be thousands of Sith."

"Were they all human?" Jeanne asked eagerly.

"A good majority of them were," Bane responded. "There were also many humanoid aliens, some very similar to humans, others less so."

The four Hero Faction members had each of their imaginations running wild, thinking about all those humans who could do the impossible without the use of Sacred Gears or mythological magic.

"So what happened to them?" asked Leonardo.

Bane ducked under a fallen tree branch, then replied, "I killed them."

The stunned looks on their faces was priceless.

"What?" Georg said in disbelief.

Bane stepped over a few more rotting branches. "The Brotherhood of Darkness did not understand the nature of the dark side; Lord Kaan and the other lords believed that equality amongst the top members and swarms of Sith warriors would defeat the Jedi. They were wrong and stupid. By doing this, the dark side was spread far too thin...a horrendous setback that would allow the Jedi to survive and win. I had to concentrate the power of the dark side into two vessels; one Master and one apprentice. Their destruction was needed so that the Sith Order could grow in strength and power."

That shut them up for the rest of the trek through the forest.

Another twenty minutes passed before they finally came across the Keetak. A large tree off to their left was covered in hundreds, if not thousands of the insect looking parasites. They are of similar size and appearance to the orbalisks that Bane found on Dxun years ago, except the Keetak are more burgundy in color and more elongated in shape. Bane and his allies walked further and encountered a few more trees infested with Keetak, and deeper in the jungle it became common to see the parasites on every third or fourth tree. The explorers then finally reached one of the swamps in the northern portion of the Swamplands.

Bane brushed the sweat off his forehead while stopping to look at the area. It was noticeably hotter here than back at their entrance point, he could feel the heat and moisture of the air with each breath. The area had towering trees on both sides of the river-shaped swamp, with some more trees and plants submerged in the murky water. Bane could see Keetak latched onto trees and animals, some crawling out of the water, and others relaxing in the dirt along the shoreline. From the looks of it, the Keetak seem to be the dominant species of this swamp.

The Hero Faction humans followed Bane towards a small beach-like part of the swamp that consisted mainly of dirt, gravel, and dead plants. They sat down far away from the Keetak at the shoreline, but Bane remained standing.

"I need all of you to test your magic attacks against their shells," said Bane, "I want to have a rough idea of the Keetak's protective properties before I put one on."

"Can we wait for a bit first?" asked Leonardo. "We're kind of tired."

"I don't have time for your exhaustion," Bane snapped. "Who knows what alarms that magic barrier set off."

Bane had a good point. The four humans got up and walked towards groups of Keetak towards the shoreline of the swamp. Bane took some steps forward and observed his allies.

Cao Cao lightly jabbed a lone Keetak with the tip of the True Longinus. He then sent a stronger stab at the shell, which did no damage.

"Hmm, interesting," Cao Cao mumbled.

The Keetak started crawling away. Cao Cao shuffled forward, lifted his spear above his head, and stabbed downward towards the shell with all his might. The spear tip had no effect on the Keetak's outer shell. Amazed, Cao Cao continued to assault the fleeing parasite with more stabs and slashes, all with no effect.

"Were you guys able to do anything to these critters?" Cao Cao called out.

Georg was in the middle of blasting eight Keetak with rapid fire magic bolts from an overhead magic circle.

"Nope, not a thing," Georg replied while putting away his magic circle.

Jeanne and Leonardo did their own assault tests, and they also failed to do any damage to the shells. Out of curiosity, Cao Cao flipped over his test subject with his spear tip and stabbed the creature through its underside. The spear penetrated the Keetak and killed it.

"Hey, you can kill them if you flip them over!" Cao Cao shouted.

Bane was pleased to see that Brahma's journal told the truth. He proceeded to approach the nearest Keetak crawling off to the side of its group, then he stabbed it with the end of his activated lightsaber. His weapon melted through the shell and split the creature in half. Now he knew what they can and cannot defend against.

Bane then carefully picked up the next closest Keetak by the shell, walking away from the group of critters to give himself some space. It was now time to test the Keetak's temperature weakness and poison.

Bane pulled down his pants and hovered the parasite over the outer part of his left thigh. He chose that spot in case if he had to scoop the critter out his a quick cut of his lightsaber; it was a place where he could afford to lose some flesh. Bane placed the Keetak on his thigh away from any major arteries, and he was immediately welcomed with a sharp and burning sense of pain. The Dark Lord groaned in pain as the parasite dug its many hundreds of tiny teeth into his flesh and snuggled itself very firmly with an acidic fluid from its underside. Bane could feel the creature feeding off his body heat that radiated from his muscles and blood.

He then held his hand over the Keetak and started using the power of cryokinesis to draw heat away from the parasite's body. The Keetak squirmed slightly as its heat vitality hemorrhaged, and Bane felt the poison inject into his bloodstream. The parasite then died as the last bit of heat was sucked out of it, with Bane peeling it off with his hand. He tossed the hardened thing on the dirt and looked at the raw and blistered flesh on his thigh while dispelling the poison from his body. Analyzing its chemical makeup with his senses, Bane concluded that it was a powerful poison, but it wasn't as potent as some of the toxins that his body dealt with in the past. He should be able to cure himself from a body armor's worth of Keetak poison with moderate effort.

"Start collecting Keetak. Be _extremely _careful when picking them up by the shell," Bane called to his allies.

The Sith Lord walked over to his large backpack and took off all his clothes, leaving only his undergarments on. He then took out his special helmet, gloves and boots, putting them on while the four humans returned with one Keetak each.

"Where do you want us to put these?" Cao Cao asked.

"Start putting them on my lower body, then work your way upward," Bane replied. "I want every square inch of bare skin covered with Keetak."

The humans placed the four Keetak on the lower part of his left leg, making Bane growl in pain. They continued to walk back and forth, collecting more parasites and placing them on Bane's body. By the time Bane's lower body was fully covered with Keetak, Jeanne stopped and assessed Bane. She was worried about his health.

"Are you sure you want us to continue on with this?" Jeanne asked with a deep look of concern.

"Yes," Bane replied confidently.

Bane continued to groan in agony as more and more Keetak covered his body, some shifting and shedding parts of their bodies to fit in irregular gaps and at odd angles. The Hero Faction members continued their task until Bane's entire body was covered with the parasite. There were hundreds of Keetak latched onto him, making Bane look like some sort of alien. He walked around and stretched out his joints, getting a feel for his new biological armor.

Bane approached Cao Cao. "I want you to test your spear again against the shells. Strike wherever you see Keetak."

Cao Cao nodded and got into a fighting stance. He stabbed, slashed and thrusted at the creatures on Bane's body over and over, doing no damage to the Sith Lord. He then stopped to catch his breath.

"I have one more move that I wish to test against the shells," Cao Cao declared. "It is the most powerful aspect of the True Longinus...I wanted to let you know beforehand in case if anything goes sour."

Cao Cao centered himself as he prepared to activate the Truth Idea, the forbidden Juggernaut Drive-like form of the True Longinus. He closed his eyes and chanted:

"_O Spear. The true Holy Spear which pierces through God._

_Suck the ambition of the King of Domination sleeping within me and pierce through the gap of blessing and destruction._

_You. Announce the will, and turn into a glow."_

Cao Cao's body emitted a blue aura while the True Longinus glowed immensely bright. The spear responded to Cao Cao's ambition by granting him absolute power to destroy the armor via God of the Bible's will. He charged towards Bane with his spear ready to deliver an incredibly powerful stab. With all his strength, Cao Cao thrusted the tip of the spear at Bane's chest, striking the plate-sized Keetak covering Bane's right pectoral muscle. Cao Cao blinked in astonishment at the outcome of his attack.

There didn't even seem to be a scratch on Bane's armor. Cao Cao remained still, waiting a few moments to see if the Truth Idea had created any other effects or miracles. But nothing happened...another failed attempt to damage the armor.

Georg, Leonardo and Jeanne were also amazed that the Truth Idea had no effect on the Keetak covering Bane. Cao Cao lowered his spear and stood up normally.

"Lord Bane," said Cao Cao, "no magic is getting through that armor."

Bane smiled. He then turned around and walked over to his backpack to take out the rest of his outfit. He put the pants over his Keetak-covered lower body and fastened his utility belt, then he donned his butt cape and high-collared cape. His lightsaber acted as the final touch, securing it on his belt.

Darth Bane now looked like the ultimate villain, a supreme overlord. His helmet, black clothing, and Keetak layered torso made him look intimidating beyond measure. In his allies' eyes, Bane is now truly and utterly the God of Power.

_Sith Sanctum, Underworld_

Zannah was sitting down on a sofa in the main lounge waiting for Bane to return from wherever he was at. She put the devices holding the power of the Regulus Nemea and Absolute Demise in the meditation chamber housing the other devices before relaxing in the lounge. She was waiting for Bane so they can test the newly claimed powers with the other devices in private.

Four people entered through the front doors, Zannah recognized only one of them. Cao Cao approached Zannah with his comrades who descended to a knee a few meters away from her. Zannah rose an eyebrow at the three humans bowing down to her.

"More followers?" Zannah guessed.

"You bet," Cao Cao replied.

Georg, Jeanne and Leonardo rose to their feet.

"We just came back from helping Lord Bane with an important task," said Georg.

"Yeah, he's got an awesome new getup," Leonardo added.

"Oh?" Zannah replied curiously.

She wondered what this task was and what Bane's new outfit had to do with it. But that question was answered a moment later.

Bane walked in through the front doors, having just talked to his estate guards to explain his new armor. When Zannah saw Bane, her heart fell to the floor. She couldn't believe her eyes for a second. If this is new orbalisk armor, she thought, then her chances of claiming the mantle of Sith Master are ruined. Bane walked towards her and entered the lounge area.

"Bane," said Zannah, "I thought you were done with using orbalisks, or whatever those things are."

"They're called Keetak," Bane corrected.

He knew exactly what Zannah was thinking about. Bane couldn't help but smirk.

"They only protect against things containing magical properties, mythological magic to be exact. My lightsaber melted through one like butter," Bane explained. "I will remove them once we have opened our gateway back to Ambria."

Zannah felt very relieved. Her destiny was not jeopardized after all.

She looked at the four humans and said, "Don't go anywhere. Bane and I need to do some quick testing."

[...]

Bane and Zannah added the Regulus Nemea and Absolute Demise to the other power devices in their imagination testing, bringing improved results than before. Despite the improvements, they still lack enough power to generate a wormhole to Ambria. From what they can sense in their experiments, they may still need many more sources of magical power.

Noticing that there aren't too many Sacred Gears left for them to take, Bane and Zannah started focusing their attention more on weapons and artifacts owned by gods. There are several things they could steal: Thor's hammer (Mjolnir), Odin's spear (Gungnir), Poseidon's trident, Zeus' shield (Aegis), Lugh's sword (Fragarach), and many more. They don't mind going on several missions to claim them if they have to, but the Sith Lords wondered if there was a way to have those objects in one spot and steal them, rather than personally breaking into each mythology similar to what they are doing now.

Darths Bane and Zannah returned to the main lounge where Cao Cao and the others were waiting on the couches. When discussing with Zannah, Bane thought of a plan that could help to relocate many of the mythological weapons and artifacts to one place.

Bane looked at the four Hero Faction members and said, "All of you, prepare your gear. We are going to Heaven."


	9. Ruthless Action

**Ruthless Action**

"Lord Sakra, there is no sign of the intruders," the task force leader said through the magic circle comm link.

Indra asked, "Did they leave anything behind other than footprints?"

"No sir," the commander replied.

Indra was perplexed by the break-in situation in the Swamplands. A few hours ago, alarms went off at the nearest troop base signaling that one of the barrier sections surrounding the Swamplands had overloaded and failed temporarily. An investigation unit was sent to assess the problem, and in doing so they found footprints on the other side of the barrier. An alert was immediately sent to Indra saying that an army task force team went into the Swamplands to track down the intruders.

"Keep searching for clues," Indra ordered. "Contact me again if you find anything else."

"Yes sir," the commando answered.

The magic circle next to Indra's ear disappeared as he scratched his head in confusion. Who in the world would break into the Swamplands? And for what? There's nothing valuable there that he could think of that would be worthwhile to take or gather. Indra also figured that no one would go there for religious reasons either. Lord Sakra then thought of the Keetak that Brahma discovered years ago and laughed. Although he knows next to nothing about the creatures, Indra still understands that they are deadly parasites that supposedly consume everything they deem as food-worthy. Maybe the intruders met an unfortunate fate by becoming new hosts for those heat suckers.

_Third Heaven, Christianity's Heaven_

Darth Bane looked around the vast plains of the Third Heaven, one of seven regions of Heaven. It is the home of the souls of the dead who have been taken to Heaven, evident by the fact that Bane, Cao Cao, Georg, Leonardo and Jeanne could see tens of thousands of floating orbs all over the place. These orbs are about the size of a fist and have a golden glow, each one containing the dormant soul of a deceased human from Earth. Bane noticed that there may be millions or more of these strange spheres of light.

"Wow, that's a lot of souls," Georg said to himself.

Cao Cao was able to sneak them into Heaven by going to Purgatory in the Underworld, which is connected to the Third Heaven. The Holy Spear user continued to stare at the numerous lights floating around like balloons.

"So Lord Bane, what's our next task?" asked Cao Cao. "Sabotage? Abduction? Assassination?"

"Neither," the Keetak covered man replied.

"Theft?" Leonardo guessed. "Cao Cao said that you are trying to steal power sources for some portal experiment."

Bane shook his head to that answer. "You will watch me turn this realm to ash."

They were all stunned for a matter of moments.

"You want to destroy Heaven?" asked Jeanne. "Why?"

Bane looked out into the distance. "Because it will help me achieve my goal faster. Rather than venturing out to track down all the various god-class weapons and artifacts, I will have them relocated to one place; they will come to me instead. This will save Zannah and I a lot more time and effort. Heaven's destruction will persuade the mythologies to declare war on me, and I will lure them to a single location of my choice where I can slay them and take their gears."

Bane continued, "Also, the angels need to die. They are flawed like the Jedi Order, and in some cases they are worse than the Jedi Knights and Masters. I will put an end to them and their ridiculous Sacred Gear system."

After a moment, Georg replied, "But if you destroy the Sacred Gear system along with Heaven, then no other humans will be born with Sacred Gears in the future!"

Georg was right, the Seventh Heaven is home to the Sacred Gear system and was the God of the Bible's residence when he was alive.

Cao Cao pondered, then stated, "Let Heaven burn."

"Cao Cao!" Georg shouted in shock. "What about our ultimate goal? We can't achieve it if Heaven is destroyed, it could take decades!"

Another reason why Bane brought them here, other than for transportation purposes, is to test their loyalty to him. What better way is there than testing them over the Sacred Gear system's fate? Bane doesn't need them on his side that badly, but it wouldn't hurt to have some loyal subordinates that will carry out his will.

"Georg, we have already achieved our goal," Cao Cao replied calmly. "Remember the first day when you became part of the Hero Faction? I said to you that we will fight all of the supernatural beings until we reach our peak performance where we cannot progress any further. I wanted to test humanity's capabilities against the mythologies, not just ours, but _humanity's_. All of our actions were done in representation of our fellow humans on Earth."

Cao Cao looked at Bane. "But Lord Bane achieved that goal for us! He defeated Great Red and showed the world that a human and his apprentice are the most powerful beings ever. There's no need to continue this goal; Bane showed us and everyone else the power of humanity."

Cao Cao paused and laid the True Longinus across his open palms. "I never truly wanted this spear, I don't even know why it was given to me. I can live with or without the Sacred Gear system, it means nothing to me. Even if there's no one else like Bane in the future, or even if there will be no more human Sacred Gear users, the mythologies will never look at humans the same again. We've already won."

There was a long pause as Cao Cao's friends thought about his words.

"I think Cao Cao is right," Leonardo expressed. "All I wanted was to send a message to the mythologies showing that humans are stronger than they think. Bane has done that and more!"

Jeanne said, "I just wanted the mythologies to stop looking down at us like we are tools to be taken advantage of. With the rise of Bane and Zannah, the gods would think twice before treating every human like shit. I'm happy enough with that as it is, whether the Sacred Gear system exists or not."

Georg considered their opinions and thought hard. "Lord Bane, I still don't fully understand why you killed all the Sith and what made you see things that way, but I'm sure you had your reasons. You are the God of Power after all. Whatever power you used to destroy the Sith and make it stronger, you can use that again here. I realized that it may be time for the Sacred Gear system to end and to start something new."

Darth Bane nodded in acknowledgement to their collective decision. "I will gather my power now. My attack will not strike us, but it may still be wise for you all to protect yourselves."

Bane began drawing on the power of the dark side to create an unstoppable concentration of power. It had been decades since he had last used the Force Storm power with the top Sith Lords of Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness, the one that was on its way to ravage the entire surface of Ruusan. At that time, Bane would have destroyed all the Jedi if Kaan didn't break the link connecting Bane with the other lords. But after years of astronomical progress in Force power and knowledge, Bane no longer needed the other Sith Lords to create the storm that was destined to cook the whole surface of the planet of Ruusan in a firestorm. Ancient Sith Lords of the past developed powers to destroy cities, planets, and even stars, and Bane had the strength to use them all. Heaven in its entirety is about the size of a continent, easily within Bane's destructive capacity.

The wind grew strong as the clouds darkened over their heads. Whatever power Bane was about to unleash, Cao Cao thought, it was going to be something that no one was ever seen before...something that no one could imagine or dare to use. He and his Hero Faction friends huddled together and enveloped themselves inside a bubble of magic circles in case if they get struck by the storm's energy.

Random lightning strikes appeared in the clouds with others striking down to the ground, then Bane rose his arms above his head as the dark side filled every part of himself. The Dark Lord lifted into the air as half a dozen bolts of lightning from the clouds were absorbed into his body, acting as continuous links of electric charge that flowed around Bane's body. Hovering five meters in the air, Bane lowered his arms out to his sides as he unleashed the storm's energy outward in all directions. Hundreds of lightning bolts struck at the ground as the firestorm raced out to consume all the regions of Heaven. There was nothing in Bane's world but fire and death.

_Secret Khaos Brigade base, Underworld_

Zannah walked with Alexa towards the hidden Khaos Brigade base built in the side of a mountain, which was in the forests of some mountain chain. Zannah used Alexa as a negotiator to contact the higher-ups of the Khaos Brigade to discuss a huge business deal. Darth Zannah was carrying out part two of her and Bane's final plan.

"Just to be clear," said Alexa, "you said that you want to _buy _the Khaos Brigade?"

"That's right," Zannah confirmed.

"You and Bane have too much money," Alexa shook her head.

Zannah was here to purchase the Khaos Brigade, essentially taking it away from Ophis, their current leader. She and Bane are going to use the Khaos Brigade as their own personal army to fend off the armies of the mythologies during their planned "global skirmish". They won't have the Khaos Brigade fighting directly against the mythological forces, for their numbers are far too large to attack head on. Instead, the Sith Lords will use them for ambushes, raids, and hit-and-run attacks that will distract and disorient the much larger opposing army.

Zannah and Alexa walked past two Brigade guards as they entered the elevator that will take them to the headquarters further underground.

"Before coming here, I took another trip to Earth to deal with some more vampires. But I didn't kill any this time," Zannah mentioned.

"What did you do?" Alexa asked.

"I bought the Carmilla Faction," Zannah replied.

The Sith lady smiled as Alexa's mouth hung open in surprise. She and Bane are also going to use the vampire Carmilla Faction in the same manner as the Khaos Brigade, but the vampires will be used more as scouts and assassins. The Sith Lords could buy or influence other factions to their cause, but that would prove to be unnecessary. They plan on having a very quick war.

The elevator continued descending until they reached the sublevel where the base headquarters is located. Zannah and Alexa stepped out and followed the signs leading towards the HQ. They turned a few corners around stone walls and hallways until they reached the HQ room where four people were sitting at a large central table that can seat twenty guests. Three of the Khaos Brigade members were devils while the other one was a fallen angel.

The fallen angel noticed Zannah and Alexa at the door frame. "Darth Zannah, you and your guest have arrived at last! Please, take a seat."

They both took a seat at the left side of the rectangular table. The fallen angel at the front end of the table was a black man of French origin, while the three devils were two asian men and a middle-eastern woman.

The fallen angel said in a strong French accent, "My name is Marquis Deschanel, I'm the commanding officer of this base and General of the Brigade Army. These are my colleagues: Colonel Senichi, Captain Osamu and Commander el-Salah."

"General Deschanel," said Zannah, "I have a big proposition for you and your fellow officers."

_Gremory Mansion, Underworld_

Darth Bane emerged from a magic circle generated by Cao Cao, stepping in the forest that surrounds the Gremory Mansion. Some people call it the Gremory Castle, but it is most often referred to as a mansion due to its shape and architecture. The Gremory estate is a perfect example of the average clan castle, not too simple and defenseless, while not overly grand like the Bael Castle and certainly not a fortress like Bane's home.

Bane decided to come here to let Sirzechs Lucifer know that Heaven is destroyed. Having just annihilated the realm minutes ago, no one from the other mythologies have found out about Heaven's destruction...not yet. Bane had no clue if Sirzechs is in the mansion currently, but if he's not, Bane can still make a kind visit to Lucifer's family and tell them about the stellar news.

Bane chose to come to this place when he could have visited any of the other three Satans, or even just contact them from his home. The reason being is that informants notified Bane earlier that week about someone having theorized and possibly created a sealing spell capable of sealing Bane or Zannah. That person is Rossweisse from Rias' peerage. Bane sent a spy to observe the peerage from afar, who noted that they often come to this estate. Eliminating her while letting the Gremory clan know about Heaven is all too convenient. Rossweisse is by no means any threat to Bane under normal circumstances, but he wasn't taking any chances of having this nuisance turn into a deadly hitwoman when he's distracted or meditating, especially after the gods' surprise attempt to assassinate Bane in his own estate.

Bane and his human allies walked towards the mansion while staying hidden in the trees. They kept a close eye on the estate for three hundred meters, taking note of the guards at the front porch and along the perimeter. Bane stopped where the treeline turned in another direction.

"Stay here while I sneak into the mansion. I want to find Sirzechs and Rossweisse myself," Bane said to his associates behind him.

"Alright," Cao Cao replied, "we'll keep an eye on the guards from here."

[...]

"Open wide Issei," said Asia. "Say aah."

"Aah…" Issei sounded as he ate a piece of food from Asia's fork.

Issei and his friends were just finishing up dinner inside the mansion's dining hall.

"My turn!" Akeno shouted. "Say ahh Issei."

"No, he has to try my food first," said Xenovia.

Issei put up his hands. "Settle down guys, I'm already stuffed."

Kiba laughed at the sight of the girls fighting over the right to feed Issei, while Rias remained silent with her mouth twisted in jealousy.

"Hey Rossweisse, why don't you try feeding Issei?" Irina suggested.

"Huh?" Rossweisse was flabbergasted.

"Don't let her do that!" exclaimed Koneko. "She'll just feed him alcohol."

"I would not!" Rossweisse replied with embarrassment.

"Then what were you doing at the Rating Game in Agreas a while back?" Xenovia asked.

Rossweisse responded, "I was at the bar…"

"Ha! See?" Koneko voiced.

Irina gave a coy smile. "I bet she was trying to look for a boyfriend!"

Rossweisse's face went red as she became flustered.

"Come on guys, stop bullying her," Rias suggested.

"We were just teasing," Xenovia assured.

At the far end of the dining hall, a butler had just walked out the door with some kitchen supplies in his arms. All of a sudden, he fell to the ground, dropping the items in his arms. This created a loud crashing sound as things broke and bounced on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Gasper called out to the motionless servant in the distance.

A moment later, a beast of a man walked into the hall past the servant's body. The man had a large frame, and his torso was covered with alien-looking organisms. He wore a dark cape with a sinister high collar, and his lower body was outfitted in black. His strange helmet concealed a lot of his facial identity, but Rias and her peerage quickly figured out who this monster of a man was.

"Bane…" Kiba gasped.

Darth Bane looked at the peerage members. "Which one of you is Rossweisse?"

He already knew which one was his target, but Bane wanted to see if Rossweisse had the guts to admit herself before him. Rias, Issei and the others were frozen in astonishment, not knowing what to do.

"Me," Rossweisse stood up with a serious look on her face.

Bane narrowed his eyes, acknowledging her honesty. He then held out his left hand, choking Rossweisse with the Force and lifting her off the ground.

"Let her go!" Rias shouted.

"She devised a plan to lock me away," Bane said to Rias. "Isn't that right, Rossweisse?"

Issei had his Boosted Gear gauntlet activated and many others had their weapons drawn.

"Put her down, Bane," Issei ordered in anger.

Bane continued to strangle Rossweisse. Kiba panicked and charged towards Bane with his demon sword wielded with both hands. He swung his sword in a diagonal strike, which Bane blocked by catching it on his Keetak covered forearm. The Sith Lord then swung out his arm, smacking the sword out of Kiba's hands and hitting the young man in the side of the head. Kiba skidded across the floor and laid there stunned.

"Kiba!" Issei shouted.

"Lord Bane...please stop…" Rossweisse muttered. "You're right...I created a plan to...seal you. But I promise to...not do that to you...I swear! I'll do...anything...you want. So…..let me go…..please…"

"You heard her," Issei slowly marched forward. "Put. Her. Down."

"Alright," Bane replied, "I will."

Bane agreed to "put her down". He yanked Rossweisse toward him with the Force and activated his lightsaber. She flew across the room until the lightsaber impaled her, burning directly through her heart and exiting her back. Bane pulled out his lightsaber and let her dead body drop to the floor.

"NOOOOO!" Issei screeched his head off.

Overcome by rage and distress, Issei charged wildly towards Bane while his Balance Breaker armor formed around him. Issei was in the motion of delivering a powerful punch with his right arm despite the armor not fully covering him yet. Bane quickly sliced off Issei's unprotected right arm just below the elbow, then slashed his lightsaber across Issei's armored legs just above the knees. By the time Bane incapacitated Issei's legs, the Balance Breaker armor had fully formed around his body...but Issei jumped the gun too early. Issei was now on his knees in agony from his amputated arm and disabled legs, overwhelmed by physical pain and emotional distress.

Bane placed his left hand on Issei's red chestplate, gathering the Force then dispersing it into the dragon armor. Issei was launched backwards as his body armor shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering everywhere. Issei smashed through the dining table and some chairs before coming to a halt on the floor, barely conscious. Rias ran over to her wounded lover, so did Asia and Akeno.

The set of doors at the side of the room opposing Bane's entrance point swung open, then entered three people.

"What the hell is going on here?" Azazel shouted.

Azazel, Sirzechs and Venelana were shocked at the mess the dining hall was in. Then they saw Rossweisse's corpse, Issei's arm and Issei himself laying down at different parts of the room. Then they looked at Bane in horror.

"DAMN YOU!" Sirzechs screamed.

The Satan fired a stream of his Power of Destruction from each hand towards the intruder. Bane flaunted his invincibility by letting both magic streams wash across his armored chest and stomach. After a matter of seconds, Sirzechs stopped his magic attack, noticing that it wasn't doing any damage to Bane. The Dark Lord then put his left hand forward, launching the three adults backward with a Force push. Sirzechs smashed through the set of doors while Venelana and Azazel slammed into the wall, denting and cracking it. Xenovia and Kiba felt a strong urge to charge Bane, but they instinctively realized that charging him would do no good.

The three adults got back up on their feet after being briefly dazed.

"Why are you here, Bane?" Venelana yelled. "Why did you attack my family?"

"Rossweisse devised a plan to seal me," Bane replied. "I had to eliminate her."

"You son of a bitch! You think you can just go around and kill whoever you want, whenever you want?" said Azazel. "Plus, you stole my prototype device!"

"I didn't steal it. You sold it to me," Bane corrected.

Azazel pointed a finger at Bane. "You tricked me! I would never have sold that thing to anyone."

Bane chuckled in response.

"I also came here to give you marvelous news," Bane added.

Azazel rose an eyebrow. "News about what?"

Bane answered, "I suppose you haven't checked on Heaven recently?"

Sirzechs said in a low voice, "What did you do…"

Bane clenched his hand into a fist. "I destroyed it! Everything, even the Sacred Gear system, is razed to the ground from my storm of dark side energy."

Irina began to bawl. "No...no…"

Asia cried as well.

"You monster!" Venelana shouted.

"That's it," Sirzechs snapped, "I've had enough of you!"

The Satan paced the floor. "First was the Rating Game, then Great Red, then the god strike team, now Heaven and my family! You may have been able to justify your actions before, but now you've proven yourself to be a genocidal psychopath. You will face justice for this!"

"You will need an army to bring me to justice," Bane taunted.

"If war is what you want," said Sirzechs, "then war is what you'll get."

Bane turned around and walked away. "I recommend you gather the other mythologies if you wish to defeat me."

_Sith Sanctum, Underworld_

Bane walked through the front doors of his estate with Cao Cao, Georg, Jeanne and Leonardo close behind him. Not too far away in the front lounge, Zannah was sitting down with Alexa, General Deschanel, a Carmilla Faction representative, and the Vali Team. Bane and his escorts walked forward to join the others.

"Vali," said Cao Cao, "I'm surprised to see that you and your team are part of this as well."

Vali shrugged. "When I found out that this war thing was going on, I couldn't turn down the offer to battle for the most powerful people in the world. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

That makes sense, Cao Cao thought. Vali is probably an even greater battle maniac than himself.

Zannah looked over at Bane. "We have our armies on standby, ready to mobilize at our command."

"Perfect," Bane smiled. "Now all we have to do is wait."


	10. Final Showdown

**Final Showdown**

As soon as Darth Bane left the Gremory Mansion, Sirzechs, Azazel and the other Satans had contacted the other mythologies about Heaven's destruction, which was confirmed by a military investigation unit. Other devil and fallen angel units recovered the remaining angels that were in other realms when Bane destroyed Heaven. Thankfully, Michael and Gabriel were at a meeting in Grigori when the attack happened, and thus were able to avoid a tragic death. However, 97% of all angels in existence, including the Seraphs Raphael and Uriel, were killed by Bane's Force Storm.

As such, an emergency meeting was held in Asgard where the world's faction leaders and other gods agreed to join forces against the Sith Lords. Every mythology, except for the Egyptian, Shinto and Persian factions, mobilized their armies to the Underworld under a temporary alliance against Bane and Zannah's Khaos Brigade and Carmilla Faction. The first battle of the war started two days after Heaven's destruction.

During the ninth day of the war, Captain Osamu's Khaos Brigade regiment had discovered a huge supply cache that the Asgardians founded at the edges of a jungle territory in the Underworld. This supply station housed massive amounts of food and medical supplies for the troops of Asgard and other factions outside of the Underworld. It is difficult to constantly transport supplies between realms, so the alliance built this station to act as a forward warehouse for the front line.

Osamu's Khaos Brigade forces succeeded in destroying the entire warehouse, with Vali and Bikou defeating the Valkyrie team in a good fight. Osamu's forces took heavy losses, but with the help of Cao Cao and the others, they were able to defeat the Asgardian army at the facility. Although the loss of the warehouse would slow down the mythological alliance's supply network for weeks, it was only a moderate setback for the giant forces of the factions. Ever since that battle, General Deschanel organized raids and hit-and-run attacks at several other locations. He didn't want to have another open and direct battle like that again unless it was absolutely necessary.

Now a few days later, Cao Cao and the entire Hero Faction was with Darth Bane in one of the vacant rooms of the secret basement level of the Sith Sanctum. Darth Zannah had gone off with Alexa and another hired agent to a secluded location in the Underworld. She took all of the devices containing the stolen powers with her so she can do some final studying and preparation for the wormhole ritual. She even took Bane's holocron with her. There was a reason for her to take all those things to a secret place.

"I wonder when they are going to show up," said Heracles.

"Hopefully they will be here soon," Siegfried added. "I'm getting tired of waiting."

"Same here," Jeanne acknowledged.

"Patience guys," Cao Cao advised. "The gods and Satans will be here soon enough."

Bane planned on fighting the gods and Satans in the largest chamber of the Sith Sanctum's subterranean level with the Hero Faction. He and Zannah carefully orchestrated the events of the war to create an intentional opening in their defenses large enough for a large strike team or even a small army to teleport to the Sith Sanctum. They also made sure that the events of the war would encourage the faction leaders to come to them for an ultimate showdown. God knows what will happen to the above-ground portion of their castle when the gods arrive; that is why Zannah took all of the power devices and Bane's holocron to a secluded location. They couldn't risk having all their progress destroyed or taken away from them, plus this gave Zannah some space and time to conduct final preparations for the imagination ritual. This leaves Bane and the Hero Faction to deal with the gods themselves.

Bane was meditating on the floor in the middle of the empty room where the entire Hero Faction sat against the walls around him. Even he wondered when, or if, the gods and Satans will show up. Bane had sent messengers to the faction leaders, inviting them to his estate for a fight that would decide the fate of each side in the war. If they agreed to show up, Bane strictly advised them to show up with a strike team or a small army at the most, or else he will destroy the planet with a Force Storm or with another one of his devastating rituals that he learned from Darth Revan's holocron years ago.

After a few more minutes, Bane could sense the arrival of several people outside the outer perimeter wall at the surface. He couldn't identify who they actually were, but he could sense that they were a mixture of males and females, enough of them for a large team. It had to be the gods and Satans.

Bane opened his eyes and lifted his head. "They're here."

[...]

Sirzechs looked at the Sith Sanctum in the distance, not too far away.

"Bane and Zannah did a good job fixing up the place," Sirzechs admitted.

"Yeah, it seems more well-defended than I expected it to be," Thor pointed out.

"And soon it will be not so well-defended," Typhon joked.

The three of them led the rest of the gods and Satans towards the fortress. The tightly packed group consisted of gods, Satans, and a few grim reapers, with a total number of 34 people. They had some more grim reapers and Valkyries on standby acting as the reinforcement group; they are waiting at another location not too far away from the Sith Sanctum. The factions were smart about who would go to fight Bane and who would not, because if things went sour in the fight against the Sith Lord, at least they had some gods left over to lead their mythologies in their absence.

Asgard sent Odin, Thor, Freyr and Heimdall to fight Bane, while Vidar was elected as the temporary chief god of Asgard to lead the other Norse gods who stayed behind. The Greek faction sent many gods to fight Bane, and their warriors made up a large chunk of the god task force. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Typhon and several other Greek gods walked towards the fortress along with the others. The Greeks chose Apollon to be the chief god of Olympus that would look over Aphrodite and the others while Zeus and his comrades were gone. The Hindu realm sent Shiva, Vishnu, Indra and Hanuman to fight while Brahma stayed behind with Mahabali to lead their armies. It was crucial that Brahma stayed behind, for he may be the world's last hope of stopping the Sith Lords should the strike team fail.

Lugh from the Celtic faction, and Gautama Buddha, Enma, Vaisravana, Virudhaka and Dhrtarastra from the Buddha faction walked with the others towards Bane's fortress. Serafall Leviathan led the devil military while Sirzechs, Ajuka and Falbium took the challenge of battling against Bane. And lastly, Azazel walked with the other gods while Shemhazai and Baraqiel ran things back in Grigori.

Not only did they make sure that their mythologies wouldn't be left without leaders, but they also ensured that they didn't take any evil gods with them intentionally or unintentionally. Gods like Loki and Angra Mainyu would use the fight against Bane as an opportunity to backstab their fellow gods mid-fight, or possibly even switch their allegiance and fight for Bane instead. The strike team could not afford any setbacks like that.

The group members up at the front stopped as they noticed many guards standing in front of the reinforced gate and others up in the scouting towers. All the other gods halted as well as they realized that the estate seemed to be on high alert.

"I guess it's time for you to take the lead, Falbium," Sirzechs called to the back of the group.

Falbium Asmodeus walked to the front of the group and took some steps away from the pack. The god team elected Falbium to be the task force leader for their operation. They didn't choose him for his power or combat abilities, but for his intellect; Falbium is the Underworld's (and possibly the world's) greatest tactician and strategist. Some of the gods questioned this decision due to his lazy and unenthusiastic attitude, but when it comes to war and strategy, Falbium shows focus and a burning passion that no one ever thought he had. His tactical brilliance could prove to be vital for the task force, and the strategist is worthy of no other role than directing the team's actions. The gods also chose Shiva to be the team's second-in-command due to his mixture of great magical power, combat skills and wisdom.

Hermes looked at the devil guards surrounding the estate. "There's no way they would attack their own Satans."

Falbium shouted, "Fellow devils, we do not mean you any harm. As the Satan Asmodeus, I ask that you return to your homes and-"

The guards interrupted his speech by opening fire on him and the gods. They would much rather attack their blood-related leaders than deal with Bane's wrath.

"Nevermind, I take that back!" Hermes said while dodging an energy bolt.

"Let's squish some puny devils!" exclaimed Typhon.

The gods created magic circles that blocked incoming attacks and launched their own offense. Although the estate was well-defended, its security compliment was not designed to repel gods, let alone a full strike team of them. If it was an army of regular soldiers, the guards would have stood a chance, but they were massacred by the immense power of the gods. Sirzechs launched a stream of his Power of Destruction at the armored gate, demolishing it in a smoky explosion. The god team ran through the threshold and into the front courtyard where they encountered the other half of the Sith Sanctum's security forces. Poseidon ran his trident through two guards, while Thor sent a guard flying with a smack of his hammer Mjolnir. Everyone else unleashed their own attacks until the security guards were defeated.

They then proceeded to enter the castle through the front doors where they saw a bunch of maids, butlers, chefs and other servants hiding behind the furniture of the front lounge. Some of the servants stood in the middle of the room holding broomsticks and lamps as weapons. They were all scared.

"You are all free to go," said Ajuka.

The servants dropped their objects and emerged from cover, running around the god team and hustling out the front doors. A man was sitting on a couch, initially hidden behind the servants who were armed in the middle of the room. He wore the same uniform as the security guards, but unlike the other guards he had gold detailing around his cuffs and collar. It was the guard captain.

"I'm not armed," the captain said while holding out his left arm.

The captain looked depressed, probably at the fact that all of his men were slaughtered. Not only that, but he seemed to have been physically abused very badly. He had a cast around his broken right forearm which was supported by a sling around his left shoulder, and had a cast around his neck to protect his weakened trachea; these were the injuries he suffered from Bane just after the assassination attempt. Once she found out about that attack, Zannah had also brutally punished the man as well. She gave him several blows to the head and took out his right eye, evident by his eye patch and heavily bruised skull.

"Are you going to kill me?" the captain asked emotionlessly.

Sirzechs approached the man on the couch. "Who gave you those injuries?"

"The Darths, Lord Lucifer," he replied. "I did my job to the best of my ability, but in their eyes I had failed badly one time. I'm surprised they didn't kill me."

Sirzechs then said, "Go home, Captain. Things may get messy here soon."

The guard captain blinked in confusion for a moment. Then he got up and walked around the strike team and left through the front doors. The gods looked around suspiciously; they found the place awfully quiet. They carefully searched the entire palace high and low for the Sith Lord that challenged them to a fight, but he was nowhere to be found. Where was Darth Bane? They returned to the front lounge not knowing where Bane is.

Hades was frustrated. "Come out, Bane! Show yourself!"

Hades wanted to get this fight done and over with. He was the one behind the assassination attempt on Bane, and he felt guilty about the deaths of the gods he sent in to kill Bane that day. He didn't really care about them personally, but Hades regretted sending them in, especially when they could have helped him and the others out with this upcoming fight. This pissed him off to the point where he formed a magic circle and launched a magic attack that blasted through the towering ceiling of the lounge. This caused the whole castle to shake.

Azazel raised his eyebrows and looked around. "Did you guys hear that?"

Everybody gave confused looks and some of them shrugged.

"Hades, shoot at the ceiling again," Azazel suggested.

Azazel pressed his ear to the floor while Hades shot another magic attack through the ceiling. As the estate shook, Azazel heard faint echoes and vibrations coming from somewhere beneath the castle.

"There's something under this castle," Azazel stated. "Possibly a secret basement level."

"Everyone, look for hidden entrances or switches," Shiva said loudly.

The team split up to look for any concealed clues. Odin entered one of the storage rooms that they searched earlier. He looked in cabinets, under tables, and in crates. Finding nothing, he then felt the walls with his hands. At the back wall, Odin felt one of the wooden planks press inward, causing something in the floor to shift. Machinery sounded as the floor slowly opened to reveal a stone staircase that went far underground.

"Well now, what do we have here?" Odin said to himself.

Odin inspected the secret passage. "I found something!"

Azazel, Shiva and the others ran to the storage room to meet up with Odin.

"Let's see where this passage takes us," said Odin.

The team descended for a ways until they reached the subterranean level of the estate. They walked down long hallways and searched rooms along the way. They were proceeding down one passage way when the ceiling lights suddenly went out.

"Who turned off the lights?!" Poseidon shouted.

"Maybe it was Bane," said Lugh.

The gods created magic circles that emitted enough light for them to see properly. A magic bolt suddenly flew towards them from the hallway to their left, and the attack went over their heads and impacted the wall on their right side. The Hero Faction member retreated and sprinted around a corner.

"Who the hell was that?" Zeus asked.

"Who cares?" said Erebus. "Chase him!"

The gods went after the mysterious figure. They ran down a few hallways until they saw the figure up ahead at the end of one of the central halls. The robed man opened a large door and slammed it shut. By the time the gods reached the two grand doors, they heard several locking sounds from the other side.

"That person locked the doors," Hanuman said while pulling the door handles.

"Something tells me Bane is inside that room," Vishnu expressed his gut feeling.

Sirzechs pressed his ear against one of the doors. He could hear the faint sounds of voices on the other side, one of those voices being deeper than the rest. He recognized Bane's voice right away.

"He's in there," said Sirzechs. "I can hear his voice."

Asmodeus looked around at the members of his team. "Hades, Typhon, Nyx, Pluto, Azazel, go around the side and see if you can find another entrance."

The five members nodded, then they ran to the left and turned a corner. The two ultimate-class grim reapers followed right behind Pluto.

After a minute or so, a magic circle formed next to Asmodeus' ear. After Azazel spoke to him for a moment, then kept the magic circle active.

"They've found another locked entrance on the opposite side," Asmodeus told his team. "Everyone, get ready. We will bust down the doors on both sides on my mark."

The gods around Asmodeus got their weapons and magic ready. Sirzechs repositioned himself next to his friend Ajuka Beelzebub.

"Well, this is it," Sirzechs expressed. "Regardless what happens once we go in, I just wanted to say that it's been a pleasure working and fighting alongside you for all these years."

"Same goes to you," Ajuka smiled. "Good luck my friend."

[...]

Bane could sense his opponents behind both sets of doors, most of them behind the doors in front of him in the distance. He and the Hero Faction stood in the center of the massive chamber, so big that it was about the size of a main hangar bay on a Republic capital ship. The humongous room was empty and void of detail except for the bright ceiling lights. Even by reading the blueprints, Bane still didn't know why Lord Marbas needed a chamber that dwarfed everything else in the subterranean level.

Bane looked back at the Hero Faction behind him. "There are seven people at the secondary entrance. Deal with them while I fight the others at the main entrance."

"Got it," Cao Cao acknowledged.

Bane activated his hook-hilted lightsaber and slowly paced the floor back and forth, ready to destroy his opponents. A few moments later, the doors exploded and the strike team rushed in through both entrances. The Hero Faction ran towards Hades and his six allies while Bane charged at the main group. With his lightsaber being held above and behind his head in his right hand, Bane closed in furiously at the main group whose members were hurrying to get into position.

Before they arrived at the Sith Sanctum, Brahma briefed the gods about the Keetak on Bane's body, which was initially brought up by Sirzechs and Azazel when they saw him wearing the strange creatures in the Gremory Mansion. The Trimurti god told them about the Keetak's perceived invulnerability to magic and even its weakness to frigid temperatures, but they all realized that they couldn't exploit that weakness. A few of the gods know some ice magic techniques, but even if they used ice spells, they would have to find a way to restrain Bane for an hour or more in order to kill the Keetak. Serafall Leviathan joked that they would need to discover an element far colder than liquid nitrogen or deep space in order to kill the Keetak in seconds. So they would have to find a way to get around his armor in the midst of combat.

Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture, charged at Bane alone while dual-wielding her magic sickles. She slashed both blades at the front of Bane's left thigh, hoping that his legs weren't covered in parasites. Her hopes were crushed when she saw Keetak through the cuts in his pants, and she was disheartened even more when Bane steamrolled past her, body-checking her out of the way like a rampaging bull. Bane continued his relentless charge at the main group, and after seeing Demeter get smacked away like a fly, Ajuka delved into his Kankara Formula to amplify the power of his allies.

Magic circles surrounded him as he put all his effort into using equations and formulas to help his allies, with the sheer concentration rendering him immobile. He could not amplify everyone at this side of the chamber though; Shiva, Vishnu and Indra were left unamped. Ajuka would have also tried using the Kankara Formula to turn Bane's attacks against himself, but Ajuka would need to have a basic understanding of the Sith Lord's Force powers to do that. Even if he did comprehend Bane's powers, Ajuka's specialty move had no shot at influencing an omnipotent and omnipresent energy field that binds the universe together.

Vishnu, Thor and Zeus stepped forward to unleash ranged attacks at Darth Bane. A magic circle formed in front of Vishnu, shooting out a continuous energy beam that struck Bane's armored chest. At the same time, Thor shot a bolt of lightning from the top of his hammer and Zeus unleashed his own lightning bolt from his right fist. Bane got closer and closer while the attacks washed across his chest and stomach, doing no damage to him.

"Come on…" Vishnu said to himself.

A moment later, the three gods stopped their ranged attacks once Bane got too close, replacing their offense with defensive magic circles. Bane slashed and struck their magic shields as he immersed himself into a completely offensive style of Form V (Djem So). He smacked their shields with his lightsaber while hitting the circles of other gods across the room, appearing as a blur that seemed to teleport all over the place. None of the gods knew that they were going to be facing such a fast and ferocious opponent.

Just like when he donned the orbalisks, Bane's altered style of Djem So was brutish but effective. He deflected attacks with his lightsaber if they were near his hands, and he let his armor absorb any attack that was far from his hands. With armor like this, Bane didn't have to spend as much time and effort into defense, which he used to his advantage by suddenly moving his assault to the right side of the room. There, Bane broke some magic shields and stabbed through Virudhaka's chest. The Buddhist god fell to the floor dead, and a moment of attacks later, Bane struck down Hypnos with his lightsaber.

The fight had just started and two gods were already dead. The gods quickly repositioned themselves to avoid getting cut down by the madman before them, spending most of their time and effort defending themselves. Bane was so fast that they couldn't attack him properly, many just shot or slashed at where they thought the blur of a person was at the time.

Asmodeus observed Bane aggressively chasing down five gods at the left side of the room. "Sirzechs, call in the reinforcement team! NOW!"

"On it!" Sirzechs replied as a magic circle formed next to his ear.

[...]

Azazel briefly looked at the swirling whirlwind of red around Bane in the distance. "Mother of god…"

The Governor General saw Bane swinging his lightsaber around wildly like a lunatic, but little did he know that Bane's strikes were actually complex sequences of Form V lightsaber combat. The Sith Lord was just so blindingly fast that Azazel didn't know what to think of it.

Currently, Azazel was in his Down Fall Dragon Another armor and dueling against Cao Cao to a stalemate. Not too far to their left, Hades, Typhon, Nyx, Pluto and the other two ultimate-class grim reapers were fighting the rest of the Hero Faction. Despite the entire Hero Faction participating in the battle, Georg realized that he and his teammates were losing fast. The humans were on the defensive the whole time, trying to ward off the gods' attacks with great effort. Something told Georg that Hades and Typhon were holding back.

"Georg, we have to figure something out!" Siegfried shouted over the sound of battle. "Or else we're toast!"

Hades was looking over at the opposite end of the chamber, seeing Bane chase down some gods at the left side of the room. The Skeleton King also saw two bodies already laying down on the floor motionless, which made Hades change his battle plans.

"Typhon, Nyx, go help out the others fighting Bane," said Hades. "My grim reapers and I can handle the humans."

Typhon and Nyx saw Bane greatly pushing back the front of the group in an unstoppable assault. It made sense why Hades wants them to go over there. The two gods then abandoned their fight against the Hero Faction and ran to the other side of the massive chamber to help out their allies against Bane. Georg was glad that they now only have to fight Hades, Pluto and the two ultimate-class grim reapers, but he knew that it would still be a very tough battle.

[...]

Bane swung his lightsaber down diagonally across his body, slashing deep into Morpheus' chest. The dead god fell to the ground and the front lines of the strike team retreated while Indra, Shiva and Vishnu stepped forward to hold off the Sith Lord, giving the others a quick break. The three Hindu gods formed magic circles to attack the Keetak covered man and to defend themselves from his onslaught. Bane slashed against and through magic circles while slapping away the occasional stab from Shiva's trident (known as a 'trishula'). Although Shiva, Vishnu and Indra were also being pushed back, they fared a lot better than the other gods whose magic were amped by the Kankara Formula.

The reinforcement team arrived twenty seconds after Sirzechs contacted them. The teleportation delay lasted that long due to the connection interference between the surface and the sublevel. Bane once read in a magic book that when teleporting from the surface to somewhere underground or vice versa, the typical immediate teleportation would be delayed; the more earth there was between both points, the longer the delay would last. Bane chose to fight the gods underground so that if the gods tried to escape via teleportation, the delay would give him some extra time to cut them down.

The large magic circle on the floor disappeared while a dozen Valkyries and a dozen grim reapers took their positions. Shiva, Vishnu and Indra stepped away as the two dozen beings swarmed Darth Bane to buy them some time to regroup. Falbium Asmodeus ran to the other side of the chamber were one remaining member of the reinforcement team watched Bane battle from afar. This little girl wearing a black gothic dress was the main reason for Asmodeus' request for the reinforcement team.

Asmodeus knelt down in front of the cute young girl. "Ophis, we need your help."

Ophis gazed at Bane in a frozen stare, feeling his dark aura that covered the entire planet. It was the same thing Great Red felt when he encountered the Sith Lords, and just like the Red, Ophis had no clue what she was feeling.

"Ophis, I need you to focus," Asmodeus added.

Ophis snapped out of her gaze. "What would you like me to do?"

"I need you to bless everyone at this side of the room, put all of your effort into granting us more speed and better reaction times," said Asmodeus. "Can you do that for me?"

"Yes," she replied.

Ophis ran to the back of the chamber adjacent to Ajuka. She put her palms together and closed her eyes, emitting a green aura from her body. Ophis did exactly as Asmodeus asked; she amplified everyone's speed and reaction times including Shiva, Vishnu and Indra's. Putting all her effort into her Blessing Inducement ability, she would also be immobilized like Ajuka due to the sheer concentration and effort required to maintain the blessings.

Bane unleashed a powerful burst of Force lightning at two Valkyries and three grim reapers to his left, frying them inside and out on contact. The lightning was so potent that the surrounding air remained charged with electricity, irritating the reinforcement team members' skin as Bane cut more of them down with his lightsaber. All of the Valkyries were dead, and there was just one high-class grim reaper left when the god team rushed forward towards Bane. Their significantly increased speed took Bane by surprise, forcing him to go on the defensive. Bane backed up as he used Form III (Soresu) to deflect the gods' attacks with tight and energy-efficient sequences. He took more steps backward, then decided to Force push his opponents off of him with a quick thrust of his left hand. The gods were shoved backwards, some fell down while others stabbed their bladed weapons into the stone floor to stop their momentum. Lugh's sword carved a deep gash in the floor as he grinded to a halt, looking up to see Bane prepare another attack.

Bane shot Force lightning from both hands at the strike team. The dozens of purple lightning forks bounced off magic barriers and tore through other circles, and the forks were so bright that nobody could look at them directly. Heimdall, the guardian god of Asgard, was caught off guard by the lightning attack and only had enough time to form a circle in front of his torso. Unfortunately, he was struck in the head and the foot by two large lightning forks that sent monstrous amounts of voltage through his body. Heimdall spasmed uncontrollably as his skeleton appeared and disappeared from view over and over through his flesh.

"Heimdall!" Thor cried out.

Odin grabbed his son by the wrist. "Don't touch him! It's too dangerous!"

A number of seconds later, the lightning attack stopped, energizing more of the air in the room with electric charge that will stay for a while. Heimdall was killed within the first few seconds of the lightning barrage, and the continuous voltage made the corpse's flesh steam and blister. Heimdall's dead body still continued to spasm from leftover tetanic contractions.

Bane approached his evermore frightened opponents, ready to account for their spontaneous and significant increase in speed. The Sith Lord returned to his offensive version of Form V, hacking away at his enemies, though this time he couldn't drive them back as fast or easily as before. Before the reinforcement team arrived, Bane felt like he was eventually going to speedblitz the strike team, but that wasn't quite the case now.

Bane slowly advanced step by step, slashing at more magic barriers and warding off melee weapons or ranged attacks that came close to his hands. The Keetak were feasting on his body heat, and they responded by pumping more chemicals into his bloodstream, influencing him to move faster and to strike more aggressively. That combined with his growing anger, Bane gained more and more speed.

Although the gods' movement speed and reaction times were heavily increased, another problem for them emerged: the formation and regeneration speed of their magic shielding. Bane had gained so much speed and momentum from the parasite chemicals and his inner fire that his strikes actually began to outpace their magic shield formation. His lightsaber cut through shields and maneuvered around harder-to-break ones, giving several gods superficial marks and slashes. These hits would have killed or incapacitated regular people, but their immense durability allowed them to push through and continue fighting well.

The gods realized that if Bane continued to gain speed, those superficial hits would turn into something a lot more damaging, fatal even. At the command of Asmodeus, the frontline of the god team retreated a few paces and prepared to hold Bane within a box of magic circles. The Dark Lord sensed this danger beforehand, and in early response he unleashed a Force wave that floored everyone in front of him. The telekinetic wave shattered the few magic circles that began taking shape around him, and moved out to sweep the gods off their feet, sending them all hurtling across the room. The wave slammed some into the back wall, pinned others to the floor and smacked some more against the ceiling. They were all stunned at the moment, many of them with internal damage.

At the left side of the chamber, Enma and Zeus escaped most of the wave's concussive energy, merely tripping backwards from its backlash spreading to the sides of the room. In a desperate attempt to protect their dazed and vulnerable teammates, the two gods charged towards Bane with the hopes of acting as a distraction. The Sith Lord slashed through some barriers, then used his incredible speed to seemingly teleport behind Enma, where he then struck the god down with a deep strike through the spine. Zeus fired a blue lightning bolt from his right fist, which Bane caught on the blade of this lightsaber. The electricity was absorbed harmlessly on the red blade, with Bane lunging forward to strike down diagonally at the Greek god. The lightsaber hit off one magic circle, then struck Zeus' metal shield Aegis on the other side. Bane followed up with a knee to Zeus' stomach, making the god hunch over in pain. The Darth then raised his lightsaber above his head with both arms and swung directly downward in a power strike, severing Zeus' head from his body.

By the time Zeus was killed, several gods got back on their feet ready to give everything they had against Bane. To their surprise, the Sith Lord never charged at them, instead he ran towards the back wall at the left side of the room. He had a new target in mind, and he charged towards that person with his lightsaber high above his head in his right hand. That new target is Ophis.

[...]

Hades looked over at Cao Cao and Azazel, checking the progress of their duel. It was an endless stalemate between the two spearmen, one of them would gain an advantage for a handful of seconds before it would change in favor to the other fighter, over and over again. Hades and his three grim reapers were winning against the rest of the Hero Faction (though not as prominently as with Typhon and Nyx), until Leonardo resorted to some very unorthodox tactics. Surrounded by many magic shields made by his fellow humans, Leonardo put all his effort into spawning endless hordes of monsters from his Annihilation Maker, sending them all at Hades. It seemed to be working quite well, for now, but the drawback is that his concentration and effort made him immobile, thus needing other humans to defend him. The rest of the Hero Faction dealt with Pluto and the two other ultimate-class grim reapers.

Hades killed three more monsters to his left. "You can't keep this up forever, boy!"

Hades saw the strain on Leonardo's face as he killed another five monsters. Leonardo hoped that his allies could dispatch some of their enemies soon so he can have some more help. He then thought of Bane and realized that help might arrive soon enough.

[...]

Ophis had only noticed Bane charging towards her when he was only a couple meters away. She formed a wall of magic barriers, forcing her to stop her blessing powers on the others. Bane slashed against and through magic shields with power strikes, and used Force speed to maneuver around the wall. Ophis had readjusted her wall, but Bane was still able to land a hit on her left shoulder, creating a super hot graze mark. Bane swung and thrusted at more barriers when he noticed many gods closing in behind him, distancing them for now with a Force push.

Some of Ophis' circles launched green colored attacks at Bane's armor while he slashed and maneuvered again. Ophis was then forced to catch the front end of the lightsaber with her left hand, the blade slowly melting its way through her immensely durable flesh. Bane pushed forward, digging his lightsaber deeper into her hand and making Ophis' feet slide across the stone floor. Ophis used her right hand to unleash a thick green beam of energy at Bane's center of mass, hoping to damage him or at least slow him down. Bane was slowed down at bit, but his lightsaber finally burned all the way through her hand, moving through the hole to clip the side of her neck. Despite Ophis having about the same power levels as Great Red, it was harder to damage her because all that power is concentrated into a much smaller body, making her more dense.

Bane pulled his lightsaber from the hole in Ophis' hand, then he grabbed her by the neck with his left hand and slammed her against the wall. He slammed the little girl over and over, cracking the huge wall and making the chamber shake, all while squeezing his hand tighter around her neck. Bane sensed a person approaching from behind, but he ignored that enemy, feeling that his armor will deal with the blow. But the odd nature of the attack caught Bane off guard.

Bane stumbled backwards from Poseidon jumping on his back, dropping Ophis in the process. Poseidon was in his own fit of rage from seeing Zeus' severed head on the floor, no longer caring about tactics and his own personal safety. The Greek god of the sea attacked like an enraged monkey, trying to use his trident in his right hand to choke Bane while using his left arm to smack the Dark Lord's face with Aegis (which he scavenged from his fallen brother). Bane formed a Force barrier around his head to block the metal shield while removing the trident from Poseidon's grasp. With his left arm, Bane then elbowed the god in the side of the head, making Poseidon drop from Bane's back. The Sith Lord quickly turned around to give Poseidon a savage headbutt to the forehead, then Bane stepped towards the stunned god laying on the ground.

With a twirl of his lightsaber, Bane pointed his blade to the floor in a reverse grip, ready to stab down at Poseidon to finish him off. The tip of Bane's blade was just over a foot above Poseidon's chest when it was unexpectedly stopped by Shiva's trishula. The blade sparked against the magical properties of the Trimurti god's trident, and with his left hand Bane backfisted Shiva in the side of the face. Bane stepped towards the god who had just recovered from stumbling back in a daze, and Shiva was being amped by Ophis' blessings once again. The Hindu god twirled his trident in figure-eight patterns: a personal ritual to gather every bit of strength he could muster, and a challenge request. Bane noted the god's fighting technique from minutes ago and his stylistic twirls now; Shiva has a defensive and patient approach to combat, fighting elegantly and striking hard when there's an opening to do so. The Hindu god's technique reminded Bane a lot of Jedi Master Valenthyne Farfalla's skills.

Bane raised his lightsaber and swung a quick flurry of strikes. The first few swings hit Shiva on the arms, creating superficial burn marks and cuts, but the god was actually able to deflect one or two strikes with his trident. Shiva couldn't tell what kind of strikes he blocked because they were too fast to be properly observed, but he used his extensive combat experience to follow the blurs and, with some guessing and luck, deflect some strikes. Bane landed shallow hits on the god's shoulder and upper chest while Shiva blocked a few more strikes. Many exhausted and injured gods watched Shiva deflect some of Bane's strikes without the use of any magic circles, sparking a small sense of hope in them. Excluding Darth Bane, Shiva is the most skilled and effective combatant in the room.

But Shiva's immense durability and amplified speed did him no more good as he was disarmed from two of Bane's power strikes, sending his trident flying behind him. Bane followed up with a kick to Shiva's torso which launched the god meters backward. Bane turned around and immediately switched his attention back to Ophis who was standing not too far away. Force lightning erupted from his left hand, crackling against Ophis' flesh and invading her nervous system. She formed a magic circle in each hand to negate some of the lightning, though Ophis was still taking a beating from it. To her, the continuous electric attack felt like the heat and intensity of a dozen suns.

A moderate distance away, Asmodeus was with the other gods trying to quickly think of something that could stop Bane. Just a few moments ago, the Satan noticed something near Bane's hand that was a different color from the rest of his outfit. At the appropriate angle, he was able to see that color change again at Bane's wrist, now realizing what it is. It was unprotected skin! Asmodeus' eyes widened, then he waved at Shiva several feet away.

Shiva stopped and said quietly, "I hope you came up with a new plan."

Asmodeus nodded. "Look at Bane's right wrist. See the color change? I think that's bare skin!"

Shiva saw it as well. "I think you're right."

The Hindu god put his fingers to his mouth and whistled to Poseidon and Demeter. They looked over at Shiva, seeing him pointing at Bane then tapping his own wrist. They both knew exactly what he meant: strike at Bane's wrist. In synchronization, they charged at the Sith Lord with their blades drawn.

Bane finally stopped his lightning barrage. The purple forks charred Ophis' clothes and singed her skin, even deforming her skin in certain places. Her ridiculous durability allowed her to tank many seconds worth of lightning that could instantly disintegrate high-class devils and kill Satans or gods in a heartbeat, but she now found herself at the mercy of the Dark Lord standing over her. Bane held his lightsaber in his right hand, tilting the blade at Ophis in a straight hold. He could sense three people approaching him from behind, ignoring them entirely. Certain that victory was his, Bane thrusted the lightsaber on a trajectory to plunge through Ophis' left eye, a spot that had no chance of withstanding a lightsaber blow.

Shiva, Poseidon and Demeter struck at Bane's wrist when the lightsaber was a third of the way towards its target. Demeter's sickles and Poseidon's trident sliced against Keetak a few centimeters off target, but Shiva's trishula met its mark. Bane felt his hand go numb and limp as Shiva's trident cut through skin and tendons, with the lightsaber falling out of his hand. The sound of the deactivated lightsaber hilt hitting the floor sent Bane's frustration through the roof, looking back at the three gods with tremendous hate. His wounded wrist completely healed half a moment later thanks to the Keetak's healing benefits, but what followed was outright terrifying. Bane unleashed a bloodcurdling scream, racking everyone in the room with pain. The Force scream shoved Shiva, Demeter and Poseidon several meters back, smashing into them like a shockwave. The yell also caused mass disorientation and made ears bleed, stopping Hades and Cao Cao's fight at the opposite end of the chamber, giving them agony as well.

Once the scream was over, lightning cracked around Bane's body and in his hands. Now fed up with these imbeciles, Bane channeled his dark side power to charge up a Force storm. It was not the ritual-styled storm that he used to destroy Heaven, instead it was a variant of the standard Force lightning ability. With this, Bane could create an omnidirectional explosion of electrical energy directed at all foes in the vicinity. In the past, this tornado of energy was described as being apocalyptic to all enemies caught within its area of effect, creating a great disturbance in the Force. Bane now built up that power to annihilate his foes right here, right now.

Brief glimpses of electrical discharge filled the room while Bane slowly lifted into the air, with lightning rods shooting into the floor from the bottom of his feet and hands.

"TAKE COVER!" Asmodeus screamed.

Every one of the 24 remaining gods and Satans on Bane's side of the room encased themselves inside their own boxes of magic shields, including Ophis who had tumbled away from Bane and the charging storm's epicenter. Random lightning bolts began striking the floor and magic shields while Bane levitated higher in the air, soon ready to unleash the storm's energy. He looked up at the ceiling the whole time, feeling that his enemies weren't worthy of his attention.

[...]

Darth Zannah heard an unnatural scream of bloodlust and hate echoing from one of the sublevel rooms. The scream irritated Zannah's ears, and caused some pain to Alexa and another fallen angel agent named Ruhiel Atheed.

"What the hell was that!?" Ruhiel shouted.

"My Master," Zannah replied. "We need to hurry!"

Alexa looked back at the male agent. "Pick up the pace, Ruhiel!"

The two fallen angels carried several duffle bags that held all of the power devices, while following Zannah down another hallway. One would think they were here to help Bane kill the gods, but they were actually here to stop him. After conducting her final studies and practice with the sealed magical powers, Zannah realized that she made a mistake in analyzing and interpreting the effects of her and Bane's ritual. They had enough magical power after all, what they actually needed was more life essence. Great Red's power contains a significant portion of his life essence, same with the other stolen Sacred Gear powers; she had been treating them like energy sources that came from non-living sources, like natural gas or uranium. What she found out was that the stolen powers, along with the ritual itself, are far more connected to the aspect of life than she ever thought.

Zannah felt like a complete idiot. She had learned from Freedon Nadd's holocron about ancient Sith rituals and sorcery techniques that oftentimes needed more life essence than dark side power to utilize correctly. A few years ago, she had even collected inconclusive accounts of Darth Vitiate using the wills and life energies of thousands of Sith to conduct a ritual that consumed the entire surface of the planet of Nathema. Zannah never believed that mythological magic had any sort of similarities whatsoever with Sith sorcery, but she now realized that her initial beliefs were wrong.

Zannah and her agents turned right at the three-way hallway intersection, seeing a bunch of rubble scattered across the floor. They entered through the destroyed entrance on the left hand side, seeing some members of the Hero Faction fighting the two ultimate-class grim reapers, while everyone else, like Hades, Pluto, Azazel and Cao Cao, stared at Bane in the distance, unsure of what to do. Zannah activated her double-bladed lightsaber and struck down both ultimate-class devils with strikes to their backs, saving those humans from trouble. She then saw her Master levitating in the air, preparing to unleash a lightning storm at the opposite end of the massive chamber. Zannah put her hand forward and pulled it back in a quick yank, just a moment or two before the power of the Force storm was unleashed.

Bane felt himself flying through the air backwards, his eyes still looking up at the ceiling. He flew several meters until he landed on his back at the far end of the chamber, sliding across the floor until he halted at Zannah's feet. He looked up at his apprentice with a crazed look in his eyes, furious that she Force pulled him away from the storm, which had now completely dissipated.

"Bane, please listen to me!" Zannah said rapidly, knowing that her Master's rage might sway him to attack her. "I made a big mistake with the ritual, we have enough magical power. What we actually need is life essence...a lot of it. We need the gods alive! They are the last key to unlocking the full power of the ritual!"

"What?" Bane blinked.

Zannah continued, "When I conducted my final preparations, I did some tests with the ritual in the forest. The surrounding wildlife added power that was never seen with the devices. I discovered that mythological magic has a connection with life, similar with Sith sorcery. I believe that if the gods meditate with us, their life energies can allow us to spawn the portal to Ambria."

Bane's anger subsided as logic and rationality returned to him, staring up at Zannah while he pondered on her words. He then got up on his feet, reaching out to call his lightsaber hilt back to his hand.

Bane caught his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. "I understand what you mean. I don't know why I never realized that fact myself."

Bane felt like a fool. Though he wasn't as knowledgeable as Zannah in the sorcery department, he still knew many devastating rituals that gave him enough insight into the properties of Sith magic. Bane regretted fighting the gods, seeing that they might be the last step to creating a wormhole to Ambria.

"Do we have enough gods to do the ritual?" Bane asked.

Zannah looked at nearly three dozen bodies scattered across the floor in the distance. She was able to identify which corpses were gods and which ones weren't, then she noted the gods and Satans who were still alive.

Zannah nodded. "Yes."

Everybody in the chamber was able to hear Bane and Zannah's conversation. Poseidon stepped forward with devastation written on his face.

"Wait…" said Poseidon. "You're both saying that you need us alive? You tried to kill us, and now you need us alive?"

Tears streamed down the god's face. "You're telling me that Zeus died for nothing?"

Artemis stepped forward. "None of us could have known that, Poseidon. We all did our best."

"Don't give me that!" Poseidon screamed. "'Doing our best' clearly wasn't enough, now was it? Talking about 'best', if you didn't suck so much with the bow, my brother would still be alive!"

"Excuse me?" Artemis was shocked.

"Shut up, Poseidon!" Hermes shouted. "You didn't do jack shit!"

"He did a lot more than you, twinkle toes," Thor said mockingly. "All you did was dance around the room the entire time."

The room erupted with taunts and shouts back and forth, many people mocking one another. They yelled until Shiva lost his patience.

"ENOUGH!" Shiva shouted.

The gods immediately went silent.

Shiva looked at Bane and said loudly, "So if I'm understanding this correctly, you now need us alive for this 'ritual'?"

"Yes," Zannah replied. "You will not be harmed by it. The ritual will simply amplify from your life essences."

"After all you and Bane have done, why should we help you?" Shiva questioned.

"Because you have no other choice," Zannah answered. "If you refuse, I will do this."

Zannah reached out with the Force to dominate the mind of the last surviving high-class grim reaper from the reinforcement group. He was fortunate enough to have survived up to this point, but now his luck ran out.

The grim reaper began mindlessly smacking his head against the stone wall over and over. He then stopped and walked over to his scythe that was on the floor, with a blank and clueless look on his face. The reaper then picked up his weapon and slit his own throat, joining the rest of the reinforcement team in death.

The gods and Satans were dumbfounded, their mouths hanging half open. Zannah is just as much of a monster as Bane, and in certain ways even more so. After a long moment of silence, Asmodeus gathered the whole strike team to discuss what they should do. They talked amongst themselves while the Sith Lords and the Hero Faction waited.

The huddled group of gods scattered a bit, then Vishnu asked, "This ritual of yours, it's not some secret plan to destroy the world?"

"We have no interest in destroying this world," Bane replied. "The ritual will open a gateway back to the planet of Ambria. What effects will it create, I do not know. All Zannah and I want is to return home."

After some thought, Vishnu answered, "Okay, we will help you."

_Unknown location, Underworld_

Everyone in the underground chamber at the Sith Sanctum teleported to a secluded location amongst the Underworld's forests and plains, quite a distance away from any city. Bane had also taken some time to remove the Keetak with the power of cryokinesis and dispel their poison, putting on simple clothing afterwards. The gods and Satans were now sitting in the grass, forming a large circle around the Darths. Between the Sith Lords and the gods were the power devices and god-class weapons (like Mjolnir and Aegis), separated equally. Bane and Zannah didn't need all of the devices and weapons, but they decided to use them all since it increased the chance of creating a more stable portal.

Alexa, Ruhiel and the Hero Faction watched the ritual gathering from a distance, feeling on-edge. This is the first time in history that many of the gods and most powerful beings in the world gathered together to join their powers. It was something almost unthinkable.

Bane looked around at the gods while Zannah prepared to generate the ritual's components in the form of Sith sorcery.

"At last, all the power of the world has come together!" Bane shouted. "For the first time ever, we will fold time and space to connect to a world so far away that it might as well not exist."

Bane spread his arms out to his sides. "For once, focus your power together as one. Look deep within yourselves, find your inner passions. Forget about the world around you and allow the aspect of freedom to give you strength!"

Ophis, Shiva, Hades, Thor, Sirzechs, Azazel and all the other gods and Satans closed their eyes and looked into their inner fires. A red, crackling stream of energy emitted from every individual in the circle, arcing overhead within Zannah's purple and black radius of Sith sorcery. The arcs then descended at Bane, who absorbed the energy into his body. Zannah had finished spawning the sorcery field, walking a few meters to join Bane in the very center. She held Great Red's power device in her hands, holding it out in front of her so her Master can hold the other side. The energy arcs then absorbed into Zannah and Bane equally, with the other power devices and god weapons emitting their own red streams towards the center. Bane and Zannah then began speaking in the Sith language, citing several sentences and keywords.

The temperature around them plummeted, and the sphere of sorcery ejected palpable waves that seemed to almost distort reality. Once they built up enough power within themselves, Bane and Zannah each thrusted out an arm in the same direction while opening their eyes. One hundred feet away, a blue swirling vortex spawned a few inches above the ground. Its black edges warped reality, creating a creepy effect. The 27 mythological beings in the circle opened their eyes while the field of Sith sorcery dissipated, looking at the portal in astonishment.

"A gateway to another world…" Indra said to himself.

Bane fiddled with his personal holocron in his pocket while he and Zannah looked back at the bystanders in the distance. Cao Cao, Alexa, Ruhiel and the rest of the Hero Faction waved goodbye, which the Darths acknowledged by giving them a nod.

Zannah then looked at Bane. "You ready?"

Bane nodded. "Let's do this."

The Sith Lords sprinted towards the portal, and with a leap, entered through it.

_Caleb's hut, Ambria_

Zannah blinked while her eyes adjusted to the time of day on Ambria. She was laying down in the dirt next to Bane who had just woken up as well. Once they entered the portal, they immediately fell into unconsciousness until they awoke outside Caleb's hut. The Huntress, now Darth Cognus, was searching the area when she spotted Bane and Zannah up ahead. The female Iktotchi ran towards them.

"Darth Bane, Darth Zannah, what happened to you? Where did you go?" asked Cognus.

"It's very difficult to explain…" Zannah replied while getting up on her feet.

Bane stood up as well. "I'm surprised you didn't leave."

"Well, you two were only gone for about half an hour," said Cognus. "I had no reason to leave yet."

Bane's mouth hung half open, getting ready to say something but never bothered. How could they have been gone for only half an hour when they spent months in the Underworld? Bane shook his head in confusion and turned around to stare out at the horizon. He began to ponder about everything that happened recently, then Bane heard the sound of a lightsaber activating. He quickly turned around to block Zannah's blade with his own lightsaber.

"Just as a reminder," said Zannah, "you and I have some unfinished business here."

Bane growled over the sound of the interlocking lightsaber blades, nothing would ever make him forget about her challenge to kill him. Darth Bane and Darth Zannah swung their lightsabers at each other in a fight to claim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.


	11. Author's Endnote

Hey guys, the last chapter ended up being published a lot later than expected because I had so many plot ideas. I ended up writing, erasing, and rewriting the script several times. What I published as the last chapter was actually a shortened version; the original version was 11,000 words! I removed the battle scenes where Vali, Cao Cao and their respective teams fought the Asgardian army with their Khaos Brigade allies. After some thought, I personally found that section to be a big waste of words and it didn't contribute much to the main plot, plus I removed those couple thousand words so no one would fall asleep at their computers.

I also have some exciting news for the future. There is going to be a **SEQUEL** to Highschool DxD: Rule of Two! At this point I have no clue when I will be starting the sequel, it may be weeks or months before I start working on the next story. I have to read a Star Wars novel or two and look over some DxD content in the meantime, but I promise that I will create a sequel!

I also want to give a special thanks to everyone who followed my story! I read all the comments in the reviews section and I appreciate your guys' feedback. Feel free to upload more comments and reviews in this endnote section or on some other chapter of this story. I am open to all forms of feedback, and I might even consider some ideas and hopes for the sequel if you guys have any. You can also send me PMs to my inbox if you want to discuss something privately.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for my next story over the upcoming weeks or months. Like I said, there's no specific publication date, but for now I know who the main characters are going to be. If any of you cannot find my sequel when I release it, or if you have other questions/concerns, feel free to contact me anytime and I will let you know what's up.

I will be looking forward to seeing you guys again and welcoming new followers!

Edit: I totally forgot to update this post over the past few months. If any of you haven't seen it yet, my sequel has been out for a while now. Here's the link: s/13356326/1/Highschool-DxD-Return-of-the-Sith


End file.
